
Copyright N^ 



COPYKIGHT DEPOSIT 



/ 




(i) 



AMERICA FIRST 



AMERICA FIRST 

Patriotic Readings 



BY 

JASPER L. McBRIEN, A. M. 

\ 

FORMER STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION OF NEBRASKA, 

AND NOW SCHOOL EXTENSION SPECIALIST FOR THE UNITED 

STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. 




AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO 



tin 

•A1/Z3 



Copyright, 1916 
by JASPER L. McBRIEN 

All rif/lits reserved 



AMERICA FIRST 
W. P. I. 



JUN -I 1916 
©CI.A4332*J8 



FOREWORD 



America First was the central thought in President 
Wilson's address to the Daughters of the American 
Revolution on the twenty-fifth anniversary of their 
organization — their Silver Jubilee — in Washington, 
D. C, October 11, 1915. The president declared in 
this address that all citizens should make it plain 
whether their sympathies for foreign countries come 
before their love of the United States, or whether they 
are for America first, last, and all the time. He as- 
serted, also, that our people need all of their patriot- 
ism in this confusion of tongues in which we find our- 
selves over the European war. 

The press throughout the country has taken up the 
thought of the president and, seconded by the efforts 
of the Bureau of Education, has done loyal work in 
making "America First" our national slogan. This is 
all good so far as it goes — especially among the adult 
population, many of whom must be educated, if edu- 
cated at all, on the run. But the rising generation, 
both native-born and foreign, to get the full meaning 
of this slogan in its far-reaching significance, must 
have time for study and reflection along patriotic 
lines. There must be the right material on which the 
American youth may settle their thoughts for a defi- 
nite end in patriotism if our country is to have a new 
birth of freedom and if "this government of the people, 
by the people, and for the people is not to perish from 



6 FOREWORD 

the earth." The prime and vital service of amalgamat- 
ing into one homogeneous body the children alike of 
those who are born here and of those who come here 
from so many different lands must be rendered this 
republic by the school teachers of America. 

The purpose of this book is to furnish the teachers 
and pupils of our country, material with which the 
idea of true Americanism may be developed until 
"America First" shall become the slogan of every man, 
woman, and child in the United States. 



CONTENTS 
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

Jasper L. McBrien 

Introduction 13 

Tableau — The Spirit of Seventy-Six ... 19 

Cast of Characters 20 

The Continental Congress — A Dramatization 21 

AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

What is Patriotism . . Jasper L. McBrien 71 

America for Me Henry van Dyke 73 

America First Woodrow Wilson 15 

The Meaning of the Flag . . Woodrow Wilson 83 

Makers of the Flag .... Franklin K. Lane 87 

The Flag of the Union Forever . Fitzhugh Lee 90 

Farewell Address .... George Washington 94 

Washington John W. Daniel 104 

Abraham Lincoln Henry Watterson 129 

Second Inaugural Address . Abraham Lincoln 151 

Robert E. Lee . . . E. Benjamin Andrews 154 

Our Reunited Country .... Clark Howell 163 

The Blue and the Gray Henry Cabot Lodge 171 

A Reminiscence of Gettysburg . John B. Gordon 175 

The New South Henry W. Grady 181 

The Duty and Value of Patriotism 

Archbishop Ireland 195 

Our Country William McKinley 202 

Behold the American T. DeWitt Talmage 206 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

The Hollander as an American Theodore Roosevelt 212 

The Adopted Citizen . . Ulysses S. Grant 217 

Our Navy Hampton L. Carson 220 

The Patriotism of Peace William J. Bryan 232 

A Plea for Universal Peace . George W. N orris 238 

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address 255 

President Wilson's Neutrality Proclamation 256 



POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

The Concord Hymn . Ralph Waldo Emerson 261 

Warren's Address John Pierpont 262 

Patriotism Sir Walter Scott 263 

The Star Spangled Banner Francis Scott Key 263 

My Country Samuel F. Smith 265 

The American Flag . . Joseph Rodman Drake 266 

Song of Marion's Men William C'ullen Bryant 267 

The Old Continentals Guy Humphreys McMaster 269 

The Sword of Bunker Hill Wm. Ross Wallace 271 

Thomas Paine 272 

Thomas Buchanan Read 274 

Bayard Taylor 278 



Liberty Tree 

The Rising in 1776 

America 

The Blue and the Gray 

Abraham Lincoln 

The Flag Gop:s By 



. Francis M. Finch 279 

.James Russell Loivell 281 

Henry Holcomh Bennett 284 



The Ship of State . Henry Wadsvorth Longfelloio 285 
The Name of Old Glory James Whitcomb Riley 286 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Acknowledgments for permission to use copyrighted 
and other vahiable material in this volume are hereby 
tendered to authors and publishers as follows: 

To President Woodrow Wilson for his three addresses 
"America First," "The Meaning of the Flag," and 
"Neutrality Proclamation." 

To Secretary Franklin K. Lane for his speech on 
"The Makers of the Flag." 

To William Jennings Bryan and his publishers. 
Funk and W^agnalls Company, New York and Lon- 
don, for extracts from his address on "The Patriotism 
of Peace." 

To Archbishop Ireland for extracts from his address 
on "The Duty and Value of Patriotism." 

To George L. Schuman and Company, publishers 
of Modern Eloquence, Chicago, for the following ex- 
tracts and addresses: "Our Country," by William 
McKinley; "Our Reunited Country," by Clark 
Howell; "The Blue and the Gray," by Henry Cabot 
Lodge; "A Reminiscence of Gettysburg," by John 
B. Gordon; "The New South," by Henry W. Grady; 
and "The Hollander as an American," by Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

To A. C. Butters for the address on "Washington," 
by John W. Daniel, from Modern Eloquence published 
by George L. Schuman and Company. 



1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

To Henry Watterson, Louisville, Kentucky, for the 
extracts from his lecture on Abraham Lincoln. 

To E. Benjamin Andrews and to his publishers, 
Fords, Howard and Hulbert, for the extracts from his 
lecture on Robert E. Lee. 

To J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, for 
the poem by Thomas Buchanan Read, "The Rising 
in 1776." 

To Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, for the 
poem by Henry van Dyke, "America for Me," and 
also for the extract from the poem "Wanted," by 
J. G. Holland. 

To The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, for 
the poem by James Whitcomb Riley, "The Name of 
Old Glory." 

To Henry Holcomb Bennett for his poem entitled, 
"The Flag Goes By." 

To Christopher Sower Company, Philadelphia, for 
the poem by Edward Brooks, entitled "Be a Woman." 

The selections from the poems of Ralph Waldo 
Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Rus- 
sell Lowell, and Bayard Taylor are used by permission 
of and special arrangement with Houghton INIifflin 
Company, the authorized publishers of the works of 
those authors. 

The thanks of the author are also extended to 
Nelson Warner, Katherine M. Cook, Mrs. L. R. Cald- 
well, Belvia Cuzzort, W. R. Hood, and Dr. Stephen B. 
Weeks of the Bureau of Education, for valuable assist- 
ance in the compilation of this work. 



THECONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

A DRAMATIZATION 



(11) 




SIGNING THE DECLARATION 



INTRODUCTION 

This dramatization of the Continental Congress 
portrays the spirit of the times during the period of 
the American Revolution. It deals principally with 
the debates for and against the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence; it is a summary of the grievances, struggles, 
sacrifices, and victories of the colonies from the enact- 
ment of the obnoxious Stamp Act by the British Parlia- 
ment to the resignation of George Washington as com- 
mander-in-chief of the American army. 

In the construction of a drama covering such a heroic 
period and relating to events so momentous, all of 
which must pass in review before us within an hour 
and a half's time» it is necessary to exercise a certain 
dramatic license. The historical literalist, like the 
scriptural literalist, makes the letter kill the spirit of 
the truth. After all, it is not the dry facts, dates, and 
mechanics of history that are of greatest importance; 
it is the fundamental principles, causes, and effects 
underlying the events as well as the spirit of the times, 
that are of first consideration. 

Any modification of historical fact in this dramatiza- 
tion has been made only to give a fuller meaning to the 
great facts of history touched upon therein. It is the 
period of the American Revolution that is to be por- 
trayed, as already stated — not alone those memorable 
days of June and July, 1776, during which the debates 
on the Declaration of Independence took place. For 
example, Patrick Henry was a member of the First 

18 



14 AMERICA FIRST 

and Second Continental Congress, though not a mem- 
ber at the time the Declaration of Independence was 
debated. Washington was a member of the First 
Continental Congress, but Jefferson was not. Con- 
gress was a changing body in its membership then as 
is our Congress to-day. 

Jefferson declares that Patrick Henry was the man 
who put the ball of the American Revolution in motion. 
Not to give Henry a place in this dramatization would 
be like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. 

It must be remembered that no record was made of 
the debates in the Continental Congress as is done ver- 
batim by expert reporters in Congress to-day and pub- 
lished in the Congressional Record. Therefore, the 
speeches in this dramatization have been adapted from 
such sources as Paine's "Separation of Britain and 
America," Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Ad- 
ams," "Wirt's Speech of Patrick Henry," Alexander 
H. Stephens's "Cornerstone Speech, " Webster's "Sup- 
posed Speech in opposition to Independence," and 
Sumner's "True Grandeur of Nations." The dialogue 
between Jefferson and Adams is taken from a letter of 
John Adams to Timothy Pickering, dated August 6, 
1822. The speeches of Stephens and Sumner are para- 
phrased to suit the times to which they are here applied. 

Great care has been exercised to place each of the 
leading characters in these debates on the side in which 
he at that time conscientiously believed. In the roll call 
in this drama on the vote for independence, the history 
of each colony has been thoroughly studied so as to 
bring out the changed attitude of the people of the 



INTRODUCTION 15 

various colonies toward independence, as well as of 
certain members of the Continental Congress on this 
question. 

The scenes of Washington and his army just before 
the battle of Long Island, the tableau of The Spirit 
of '76, and Washington's resignation as commander- 
in-chief of the army, are introduced not alone for their 
psychological effect on the dramatization proper, but 
for their own worth in teaching patriotism. 

With twenty-nine leading characters the dramatiza- 
tion can be well staged. But if fifty-five characters are 
available — the number who signed the Declaration, 
and if there is room for so many, so much the better, 
except as the number of performers is increased there 
will be an additional expense for costumes.^ It may be 
given as a reading lesson without costumes; it may be 
given so as a drama; but it is a greater success given 
in costumes. 

Those who take part in this dramatization should be 
costumed as nearly like the characters they represent 
as possible. As a rule, wigs can be rented for this pur- 
pose at a reasonable cost, and it will not be diflBcult to 
dress in the style of the Revolutionary period — buckle 
shoes, silk stockings, knee pants, ruffled shirt, and the 
conventional coat of the time. 

The same freedom must be permitted and exercised 
in carrying out this dramatization, that marked the 
actors in the Continental Congress itself in its stormy 

'In smaO schools where there are not enough large boys to represent all 
the characters, those who represent members of the Continental Congress 
can become members of Washington's army, etc., for the other scenes. 



16 AMERICA FIRST 

debates and noisy sessions. Immediately following 
the close of each speech there should be a clamor for 
recognition on the part of the delegates, but the presi- 
dent will be careful to recognize the proper person so as 
to make the play move without any hitch. As each 
speaker proceeds there should be a reasonable number 
of interruptions by applause or dissenting voices so as 
to play both sides as strongly as possible. 

The parliamentary procedure must not be followed 
too strictly or it will kill the interest in the play on the 
part of the public. It must be given with dispatch and 
dramatic effect to make a happy hit. 

These debates may be considered as an oratorical 
contest with prizes awarded accordingly if so desired. 
It adds interest to the work. 

It is hard to tell in which years of school work it is 
best to give this dramatization — whether in the gram- 
mar grades, in the high school, or in the college, for it 
is within the understanding of grammar grade boys; 
it is not too elementary for young men in the high 
school; and it is profound enough for the best thought 
and the best efforts of college students. If given by 
grammar school boys and high school young men, it 
will have a wholesome influence in training for a better 
citizenship at an opportune time. If presented by 
college, university, and normal school students it will 
give those who are fitting themselves for teaching a 
valuable lesson in methods. If it were given by every 
grammar school, high school, college, university and 
normal school, on every Chautauqua platform, and 
by every patriotic society in the United States on 



INTRODUCTION 17 

Washington's Birthday and other patriotic occasions, 
and then repeated on the Fourth of July every year for 
the next decade it would do much towards combating 
that dangerous "aggressive hyphenated Americanism," 
that has sprung up in our country and whose baneful 
effects it will take much earnest teaching to obliterate. 
When all native-born children of foreign parentage, 
and when all citizens of foreign birth know the story 
of the struggle and sacrifice by which our country rose 
to her proud station it will make them feel "that they 
are Americans among Americans; that they are part 
of America and have a share and a duty toward Ameri- 
can institutions." May it also cause those native-born 
Americans who have become luke-warm in their love 
of country, careless of its honor, and negligent in its 
defense to awake to their duty with a spirit to do their 
duty before it is too late. May it make of every one of 
us a truer American "by being wholly and without re- 
serve, and without divided allegiance, and with em- 
phatic repudiation of the entire principle of *dual 
nationality/ an American citizen and nothing else." 



In their ragged regimentals 
Stood the old Continentals, 

Yielding not. 
When the grenadiers ivere lunging. 
And like hail fell the plunging 

Cannon shot; 

When the files 

Of the isles. 

From the smoky night encampment, bore the banner 
of the rampant 

Unicorn; 
And grummer, grummer, grummer, rolled the roll of 
the drummer 

Through the morn! 



(18) 




TABLEAU— THE SPIRIT OF SEVENTY-SIX (19) 



CAST OF CHARACTERS 



Speakers 



FOR THE DECLARATION AGAINST THE DECLARATION 

John Hancock, President Edward Riitledge 

Richard Henry Lee John Dickinson 

John Adams George Walton 

Roger Sherman Robert Morris 

Benjamin Franklin 
Samuel Adams 
Joseph Hewes 
Patrick Henry 
Thomas Jefferson 

Charles Thomson, Secretary 

Other Members of the Congress 



Josiah Bartlett 

Stephen Hopkins 

William Floyd 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton 

Samuel Chase 

Benjamin Harrison 

Lyman Hall 



Oliver Wolcott 
Elbridge Gerry 
William Hooper 
Benjamin Rush 
Richard Stockton 
Thomas McKean 
Caesar Rodney 



Additional Characters 
General Washington and his Army 



Fifer 

Drummer 
Little Boy 



Leading the Army 
in "The Spirit of '76' 



20 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

ACT I. 

Scene I. — Congress assembled; John Hancock in the 
chair as president; his keynote speech. 

John Hancock.^ Gentlemen of the Continental 
Congress:— I thank you for the signal honor you have 
conferred on me in making me your presiding officer. 
I am glad to see so many Colonies represented in this 
Congress. Let us show the nations of the old world 
what the people of the new world will do when left to 
themselves, to their own unbiased good sense, and to 
their own true interests. On us depend the destinies 
of our country — the fate of three millions of people, and 
of the countless millions of our posterity. Matchless 
is our opportunity — matchless also is our responsibility ! 
May the God of nations guide us in our deliberations 
and in our actions. 

Everything that is right or natural pleads for sepa- 
ration. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of 
nature cries, "'tis time to part." Even the distance at 
which the Almighty hath placed England and America, 
is a strong and natural proof that the authority of the 
one over the other was never the design of heaven. The 
time, likewise, at which the continent was discovered, 

'This speech is adapted from Paine's "Separation of Britain and America." 

21 

AMERICA FIRST 4. 



22 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which 
it was peopled, increases the force of it. The Reforma- 
tion was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the 
Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the 
persecuted in future years, when home should afford 
neither friendship nor safety. 

The authority of Great Britain over this continent is 
a form of government which sooner or later must have 
an end: and a serious mind can draw no true pleasure 
by looking forward, under the painful and positive con- 
viction that what he calls "the present constitution" 
is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, 
knowing that this government is not suflSciently lasting 
to insure anything which we may bequeath to posterity ; 
and by a plain method of argument, as we are running 
the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work 
of it, otherwise we use them meanly and ])ilifully. In 
order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should 
take our children by the hand, and fix our station a few 
years farther into life; that eminence will present a 
prospect which a few present fears and prejudices con- 
ceal from our sight. 

Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary 
offense, yet I am inclined to believe that all those who 
espouse the doctrine of reconciliation may be included 
within the following descriptions : Interested men, who 
are not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see; prej- 
udiced men, who will not see; and a certain set of 
moderate men, who think better of the European world 
than it deserves: and this last class, by an ill-judged 
deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to 
this continent than all the other three. 



A DRAMATIZATION 23 

It is the good fortune of many to live distant from 
the scene of sorrow; the evil is not sufficiently brought 
to their doors to make them feel the precariousness with 
which all American property is possessed. But let our 
imaginations transport us a few moments to Boston; 
that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and in- 
struct us forever to renounce a power in whom we can 
have no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate 
city, who but a few months ago were in ease and afflu- 
ence, have no other alternative than to stay and starve, 
or turn out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their 
friends if they continue within the city, and plundered 
by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present situa- 
tion they are prisoners without hope of redemption, 
and in a general attack for their relief they would be 
exposed to the fury of both armies. 

Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over 
the offenses of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, 
are apt to call out, "Come, come, we shall be friends 
again for all this." But examine the passions and feel- 
ings of mankind, bring the doctrine of reconciliation to 
the touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether you 
can hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the power 
that hath carried fire and sword into your land? If 
you cannot do all these, then are you deceiving your- 
selves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon your pos- 
terity. Your future connection with Britain, whom 
you can neither love nor honor, will be forced and un- 
natural, and being formed only on the plan of present 
convenience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more 
wretched than the first. /But if you say you can still 



24 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

pass the violations over, then I ask, hath your house 
been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before 
your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed 
to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent 
or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and 
wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not 
a judge of those who have. But if you have, and can 
still shake hands with the murderers, then are you un- 
worthy the name of husband, father, friend or lover, 
and, whatever may be your rank or title in life, you 
have the heart of a coward and the spirit of a sycophant. 

Gentlemen of the First American Congress, in the 
name of Equality, Fraternity and Liberty, I welcome 
you to this council. What is your pleasure, gentlemen? 

Richard Henry Lee. Mr. President: — I wish to 
move the adoption of the following resolution: "Re- 
solved, that these united colonies are, and of right 
ought to be free and independent states; that they are 
absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and 
that all political connection between them and the state 
of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." 

John Adams. Mr. President: — I second the motion. 

John Hancock. Gentlemen of the Continental 
Congress, you have heard the motion of Mr. Richard 
Henry Lee, of Virginia, for immediate and absolute 
independence. Are there any remarks? 

Richard Henry Lee. Mr. President and Gentle- 



A DRAMATIZATION ^5 

men of the Continental Congress: — Why do we delay? 
Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to 
an American republic. Let her arise, not to devastate 
and to conquer, but to reestablish the reign of peace and 
law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She de- 
mands of us a living example of freedom that may ex- 
hibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever 
increasing tyranny which devastates her polluted 
shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the 
unhappy may find solace and the persecuted repose. 
She entreats us to cultivate a propitious soil where that 
generous plant of liberty, which first sprang and grew in 
England, but is now withered by the blasts of tyranny 
may revive and flourish, sheltering under its salubrious 
shade all the unfortunate of the human race. If we are 
not this day wanting in our duty to our country, the 
names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed 
by posterity at the side of Theseus, of Lycurgus, of 
Romulus, of Numa, of the three Williams of Nassau 
and of all those whose memory has been and forever 
will be, dear to virtuous men and good citizens.^ 

(At the close of Mr. Lee's brief speech there is a clamor 
for recognition. John Adams is recognized.) 

John Adams. Mr. President: — I move that a com- 
mittee of five be selected by ballot to draft a decla- 
ration representing the views of these united colonies. 

Benjamin Franklin. Mr. President: — ^I second 
the motion. 

* Adapted from Wirt's supposed speech of Lee. 



26 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

John Hancock. Gentlemen of the Continental 
Congress: — The motion has been made and seconded 
that a committee of five be selected by ballot to draft 
a proper declaration representing the views of these 
united colonies. You have heard the motion, are there 
any remarks? (Calls for the question.) 

As many as favor this motion make it known by 
saying "aye" {ayes respond); contrary, "no," {nos 
respond). The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, 
and the motion is carried. 

Gentlemen of the Continental Congress, I shall ap- 
point Benjamin Rush of Pennsylvania, Samuel Chase 
of Maryland, and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina 
as tellers for this election and they will wait upon you 
for your ballots for the committee. Please write the 
names of the five men whom you wish to serve on this 
committee, on your ballot and deposit the same in the 
hat when passed. 

{Ballots are gathered hy the tellers who report 
the result to the president of the Congress.) 

Gentlemen of the Continental Congress: — By your 
ballots you have selected the following persons as the 
committee of five to draft the declaration as already 
ordered — Thomas JeflFerson of Virginia, John Adams 
of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, 
Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Living- 
ston of New York. Gentlemen, what is your further 
pleasure? 

Samuel Adams. Mr. President:— I move that the 
Congress do now take a recess until tomorrow morning 



A DRAMATIZATION 27 

at 10 o'clock to give the committee just appointed 
time in which to prepare the Declaration ordered. 

Joseph Hewes. Mr. President: — I second the 
motion which Mr. Adams has offered. 

John Hancock. Gentlemen of the Congress: — It 
has been moved and seconded that this Congress take 
a recess until tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock in order 
to give the committee just appointed time in which to 
prepare a proper Declaration. You have heard the 
motion, are there any remarks.^^ {Calls for question.) 

As many as favor the motion make it known by say- 
ing "aye" {ayes respond); contrarj^ "no," {nos re- 
spond). The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, 
and this Congress will take a recess until tomorrow 
morning at 10 o'clock. 

CURTAIN 



28 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

ACT II. 

Scene 1. — Meeting of the Committee of Five. Livingston 
absent. 

Benjamin Franklin. Gentlemen of the Com- 
mittee, I move that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams 
be appointed as a sub-committee of this Committee of 
Five to draft the Declaration ordered by the Conti- 
nental Congress. 

Roger Sherman. I second the motion. 

Benjamin Franklin. Gentlemen, you have heard 
the motion. As many as favor the same make it known 
by saying "aye." 

(Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams are silent while Mr. 
Sherman and Mr. Franklin vote aye.) 

The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, and Mr. 
Jefferson and Mr. Adams are elected. 

John Adams. Gentlemen, it seems to me you have 
taken snap judgment on Mr. Jefferson and myself. 

Thomas Jefferson. Yes, gentlemen, you have. 

Benjamin Franklin. The committee has so or- 
dered and as Congress itself gave Mr. Jefferson the 
highest number of votes and Mr. Adams the next 



A DRAMATIZATION 29 

highest number in the selection of this committee, I 
am sure that Congress will be highly pleased at our 
having selected you for this great work. We also feel 
that we should congratulate ourselves upon the choice 
we have made. 

John Adams. Thank you, gentlemen, for the com- 
pliment. 

Thomas Jefferson. I join Mr, Adams in thanking 
you, gentlemen, for the confidence you have in us. 

Roger Sherman. Gentlemen of the committee, I 
move that we take a recess until tonight so as to give 
the sub-committee time to prepare the Declaration. 

IVIr. Adams. I second the motion, 

Mr. Franklin. As many as favor the motion make 
it known by saying "aye" {ayes respond). The ayes 
seem to have it, the ayes have it, and the committee 
will take a recess until eight o'clock tonight. 

{Mr. Franklin and Mr. Sherman leave Mr. Adams 
and Mr. Jefferson to themselves to deliberate over 
the Declaration.) 

Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams, I suggest that you 
make the draft of this declaration. 

Mr. Adams. I will not! 



30 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

Mr. Jefferson. 'You should do it. 

Mr. Adams. Oh, no! 

Mr. Jefferson. Why will you not? You ought 
to do it. 

Mr. Adams I will not! 

Mr. Jefferson, Why? 

Mr. Adams. Reasons enough. 

Mr. Jefferson. What can be your reasons? 

Mr. Adams. Reason first, you are a Virginian and 
a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. 
Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected, and un- 
popular. You are very much otherwise. Reason 
third, you can write ten times better than I can. 

Mr. Jefferson. Well, if you are decided, I will do 
the best I can. 

z' Mr. Adams. Very well, when you have drawn it 
up we will have a meeting. 

{Exeunt Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson.) 



'This dialogue between Adams and Jefferson is taken from Adams's letter 
to Timothy Pickering. 



A DRAMATIZATION 31 

Scene II. — Washington's Address to his Army. Wash- 
ington and his army^ in camp on Long Island. 

The time is now near at hand, which must probably 
determine whether Americans are to be freemen or 
slaves, whether their houses and farms are to be pil- 
laged and destroyed, and themselves to be consigned 
to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts 
will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now 
depend, under God, on the courage and the conduct 
of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves 
us only the choice of a brave resistance or the most 
abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to 
conquer or to die. 

Our own, our country's honor, calls upon us for a 
vigorous and manly exertion. If we now shamefully 
fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. 
The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and 
we shall have their blessings and praises if happily we 
are the instruments of saving them from the tyranny 
meditated against them. Let us, therefore, animate 
and encourage each other, and show the whole world 
that a freeman contending for liberty on his own 
ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth. 



*If this is properly staged it will be very effective. National Guard 
members will be glad to take part as members of Washington's army, with 
their tents and uniforms and arms, if there are no school cadets to play this 
part. The bugler sounds the call to arms. The soldiers fall into line ready for 
the fight. Just before marching orders are given, Washington delivers 
the following address, after which the curtain goes down on this scene and 
the sound of battle is heard in the distance. 



32 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

Liberty, property, life, and honor are all at stake. 
Upon your courage and conduct rest the hopes of our 
bleeding and insulted country. Our wives, children, 
and parents expect safety from us only; and they have 
every reason to believe that Heaven will crown with 
success so just a cause. 

The enemy will endeavor to intimidate by show and 
appearance; but remember that they have been re- 
pulsed on various occasions by a few brave Americans. 
Their cause is bad — their men are conscious of it. If 
they are opposed with firmness and coolness on their 
first onset, with our advantage of works and knowledge 
of the ground, the victory is most assuredly ours. 

Scene III.— Tableau— 'T/ie Spirit of '76." 

As soon as the sound of battle has died away following the departure of 
Washington and his army, put on the tableau of "The Spirit of '76." The 
fifer, the drummer, and the little boy should l)e good musicians playing 
patriotic music of the Revolution. Their wounded and ragged comrades 
are seen in the background. 

Scene IV. — Mr. Jefferson seated at his desk and 'put- 
ting on the finishing touches to his original draft 
of the Declaration of Independence. Enter Mr. Adams. 

Mr. Adams. Good evening, Mr. Jefferson. 

Mr. Jefferson. Good evening, Mr. Adams. 

Mr. Adams. Well, have you the Declaration 
finished.'^ 



A DRAMATIZATION 33 

Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams, I have done the best 
I could but I am not very well satisfied with what I 
have written. I wish you would look it over and 
make such corrections and criticisms as your judg- 
ment deems proper. 

Mr. Adams {studying the Declaration). Mr. Jef- 
ferson, I am delighted with your production. Your 
statements relative to the inalienable rights of men 
are unanswerable and to secure these rights, govern- 
ments must be instituted among men, deriving their 
just powers from the consent of the governed. This para- 
graph concerning negro slavery meets with my ap- 
proval but I fear it will not meet with the approval of 
some of the Southern delegates. I congratulate you, 
]\Ir. Jefferson, on what you have done. This docu- 
ment will make you immortal. 

Mr. Jefferson. Thank you, Mr, Adams, I fear you 
are too extravagant in your praise of my work. 

(Enter Mr. Franklin and Mr. Sherman.) 

Mr. Franklin. Well, gentlemen, have you com- 
pleted tlie draft for the Declaration? 

Mr. x\dams. Mr. Jefferson has finished it. It is all 
his work. I have reviewed the paper very hurriedly 
but in my opinion it is one of the greatest documents 
ever written by man. Look it over, gentlemen, and let 
us hear your opinion of it. 



34 THE CONTINENTAL, CONGRESS 

Mr. Franklin {■studying the Declaration). Mr. 
Jefferson, I congratulate you, sir. Your declaration 
on the inalienable rights of men is well stated. I agree 
with you that governments derive their just powers 
from the consent of the governed. . I like, that paragraph 
on slavery but I believe that some of the Southern 
delegates will oppose it. This is a paper of which you 
should be proud, Mr. Jefferson. I congratulate you, 
sir. Here, Mr. Sherman, let us have your views on 
this Declaration. 

Mr. Sherman (studying the Declaration). You have 
covered all our grievances in the twenty-seven dis- 
tinct charges you have made against the present king 
of Great Britain. We can well afford to submit these 
facts to a candid world, ^hat paragraph on slavery, 
Mr. Jefferson, meets with my approval heartily, but 
I fear some of the Southern delegates will oppose it 
strongly. We can certainly appeal to the Supreme 
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions. 
I believe with you that divine Providence will sup- 
port us in making this Declaration good. Therefore, 
I am willing to stand with you in pledging our lives, 
our fortunes, and our sacred honor to this end. I do 
not see how I could make any suggestions that would 
improve it. Mr. Jefferson, I congratulate you on the 
great work you have done in this paper for our country 
and for humanity. 

Mr. Jefferson. Gentlemen, I thank you all most 
heartily and sincerely for the compliments you have 



A DRAMATIZATION 35 

paid me on this paper, but I am no orator myself, es- 
pecially for such an occasion as this; therefore, I 
should like to have Mr. Adams report this Declaration 
to the Continental Congress, move its adoption for 
me, and lead in the debates in favor of it. 

Mr. Franklin. Gentlemen: — I move that Mr. 
Adams be requested to report this Declaration to the 
Congress as desired by Mr. Jefferson. 

Mr. Sherman. I second tlie motion. 

Mr. Franklin. Gentlemen, you have heard the 
motion. As many as favor the same make it known by 
saying "aye." {Response of ayes; Mr. Adams is silent.) 
The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, and the 
motion is carried for Mr. Adams to so report this Decla- 
ration. The committee is adjourned. 

curtain 



36 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

ACT III. 

Scene I. — The Continental Congress again in session. 

Mr. Hancock, {Looking at his watch, as he calls 
the Congress to order.) Gentlemen of the Continental 
Congress: — The time has come to which we adjourned 
yesterday in order to give the Committee of Five, ap- 
pointed to draft the Declaration, due time to prepare 
the same. Are the gentlemen of the Committee present 
and ready to report? 

Mr. Adams. Mr. President and Gentlemen of the 
Continental Congress: — At the request of Mr. Jef- 
ferson and the other members of the Committee, I beg 
leave to submit the following Declaration for your 
consideration after it has been read by the secretary 
of this Congress. Permit me to say here, however, 
that the credit for the authorship of this paper belongs 
entirely to Mr. Jefferson. It is his work, which the 
other members of the Committee are unanimous in 
approving. 

{Charles Thomson^ secretary of the Congress, 
reads the Declaration of Independence. This part 
should be assigned to one who has a good clear voice 
and is a good public reader. If it is thought best not 
to read all of the Declaration, its most striking para- 
graphs should be read. Do not forget to have the 
famous paragraph on slavery rend. If it were 
omitted the great speech of George Walton would 
be out of place.) 



A DRAMATIZATION 37 

John Adams. ^ Mr. President and Gentlemen of the 
Continental Congress: — Sink or swim, live or die, sur- 
vive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this 
vote in favor of this Declaration of Independence. It 
is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at 
independence. But there's a divinity which shapes 
our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to 
arms; and, blinded to her own interest for our good, 
she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now 
within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, 
and it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the 
declaration ? 

Is any man so weak as now to hope for a recon- 
ciliation with England, which shall leave either safety 
to the country and its liberties, or safety to his own life 
and his own honor.? Are not you,- sir, who sit in that 
chair, is not he,^ our venerable colleague near you, 
are you not both already the proscribed and predes- 
tined objects of punishment and of vengeance.'* Cut 
off from all hope of royal clemency, what are you, 
what can you be, while the power of England remains, 
but outlaws? If we postpone independence do we 
mean to carry on, or to give up the war.^* Do we mean 
to submit to the measures of parliament, Boston Port 
Bill and all.'^ Do we mean to submit, and consent that 
we ourselves shall be ground to powder, and our coun- 
try and its rights trodden down in the dust? I know we 
do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. Do 

'This is a part of Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Adams." 
^John Hancock. 'Samuel Adams. 

AMERICA FIRST 3. ^ 



38 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

we intend to violate that most solenni obligation ever 
entered into by men, that pligliting, before God, of 
onr sacred honor to ^Yashington, when, putting him 
forth to incur the dangers of war, as well as the politi- 
cal hazards of the times, we promised to adhere to him, 
in every extremity, with otTr fortunes and our lives? 
I know there is not a man here who would not rather 
see a general conflagration sweep over the land, or an 
earthquake sink it, than one jot or tittle of that plighted 
faith fall to the ground, i For myself, having twelve 
months ago, in this place, moved you, that George 
Washington be appointed commander of the forces 
raised, or to be raised, for defense of American liberty, 
may my right hand forget her cunning, and my tongue 
cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate or waver 
in the support I give him. 

(At the close of Mr. Adams' speech there is loud 
clamor for recogniiion. The president recognizes 
Edward Rntledge of South Carolina, icho speaks 
against the Declaration.) 

Edward Rutledge. ^Mr. President and Gentlemen 
of the Continental Congress: — Let us pause! This 
step, once taken, cannot be retraced. This resolution, 
once passed, will cut off all hope of reconciliation. If 
success attend the arms of England, we shall then be no 
longer colonies, with charters, and with privileges. 
These will all be forfeited by this act; and we shall be 

*Fri)in Webster's "Supposed Speech" of opposition to Iii(le])eiuleii('e. 



A DRAMATIZATION 39 

in the condition of other conquered people — at the 
mercy of the conquerors. For ourselves, we may be 
ready to run the hazard; but are we ready to carry the 
country to that length? Is success so 'probable as to 
justify it? Where is the military, where the naval 
])Ower, by which we are to resist the whole strength of 
the arm of England? For she will exert that strength 
to the utmost. Can we rely on the constancy and per- 
severance of the people? — or will they not act as the 
people of other countries have acted, and, w^earied with 
a long war, submit in the end, to a worse oppression? 
While we stand on our old ground, and insist on redress 
of grievances, we know we are right, and are not an- 
swerable for consequences. Nothing, then, can be 
imputable to us. 

(At the close of 2Ir. Ridledge's speech there is a 
clamor for recognition. The president recognizes 
Roger Sherman of Connecticut.) 

Roger Sherman. 'Mr. President and Gentlemen 
of the Continental Congress: — The war must go on. 
We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, 
why put off longer the declaration of independence? 
That measure w^ill strengthen us. It will give us char- 
acter abroad. The nations will then treat with us, 
which they never can do while we acknowledge our- 
selves subjects, in arms against our sovereign. Nay, 
I maintain that England herself will sooner treat for 

'From Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Adams." 



40 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

peace with us on the footing of independence, than 
consent, by repeaHng her acts, to acknowledge that 
her whole conduct toward us has been a course of in- 
justice and oppression. Her pride will be less wounded 
by submitting to the course of things which now pre- 
destinates our independence, than by yielding the 
points in controversy to her rebellious subjects. The 
former she will regard as the result of fortune; the 
latter she would feel as her own deep disgrace. Why, 
then, why, then, sir, do we not as soon as possible 
change this from a civil to a national war? And since 
we must fight it through, why not put ourselves in a 
state to enjoy all the benefits of victory, if we gain the 
victory? 

If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall 
not fail. The cause will raise up armies; the cause 
will create navies. The people, the people, if we are 
true to them will carry us, and will carry themselves, 
gloriously through this struggle. I care not how fickle 
other people have been found. I know* the people of 
these colonies, and I know that resistance to British 
aggression is deep and settled in their hearts, and can- 
not be eradicated. Every colony, indeed, has expressed 
its willingness to follow, if we but take the lead. Sir, 
the declaration will inspire the people with increased 
courage. Instead of a long and bloody war for the 
restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for 
chartered immunities, held under a British king, set 
before them the glorious object of entire independence, 
and it will breathe into them anew the breath of life. 
Read this declaration at the head of the army; every 



A DRAMATIZATION 41 

sword will be drawn from Its scabbard, and the solemn 
vow uttered to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of 
honor. Publish it from the pulpit, religion will approve 
it, and the love of religious liberty will cling around it, 
resolved to stand with it, or fall with it. Send it to the 
public halls; proclaim it there; let them hear it who 
heard the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them 
see it who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the 
field of Bunker Hill and in the streets of Lexington 
and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its 
support. 

(At the close of Mr. Sherman s speech there is a 
loud clamor for recognition. The president recog- 
nizes John Dickinson of Pennsylvania.) 

John Dickinson. ^Mr, President and Gentlemen of 
the Continental Congress: — If we now change our ob- 
ject, carry our pretensions farther, and set up for abso- 
lute independence, we shall lose the sympathy of man- 
kind. We shall no longer be defending what we pos- 
sess, but struggling for something which we never did 
possess, and which we have solemnly and uniformly 
disclaimed all intention of pursuing, from the very 
outset of the troubles. Abandoning thus our old 
ground of resistance only to arbitrary acts of op])res- 
sion, the nations will believe the whole to have been 
mere pretense, and they will look on us, not as injured, 
but as ambitious subjects. I shudder before this re- 

'From Webster's "Supposed Speech of opposition to Independence." 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



A DRAMATIZATION 43 

sponsibility. It will be upon us, it will be upon us, if, 
relinquishing the ground we have stood upon so long, 
and stood so safely, we now proclaim independence, 
and carry on the war for that object, while these cities 
burn, these pleasant fields whiten and bleach with the 
bones of their owners, and these streams run blood. 
It will be upon us, it will be upon us, if failing to main- 
tain this unseasonable and ill-judged declaration, a 
sterner despotism, maintained by military power, 
shall be established over our posterity, when we our- 
selves, given up by an exhausted, a harrassed, a mis- 
led people, shall have expiated our rashness and atoned 
for our presumption on the scaffold. 

(At the close of Mr. Dickinson's speech there is 
a loud clamor for recognition. The president recog- 
nizes Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania.) 

Benjamin Franklin. 'Mr. President and Gentle- 
men of the Continental Congress: — I know the un- 
certainty of human affairs, but I see, I see clearly, 
through this day's business. You and I, indeed, may 
rue it. We may not live to the time when this declara- 
tion shall be made good. We may die; die colonists; 
die slaves; die, it may be ignominiously and on the 
scaffold. Be it so. Be it so. If it be the pleasure of 
Heaven that my country shall require the poor offer- 
ing of my life, the victim shall be ready, at the ap- 
pointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may. 

'From Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Adams." 



44 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least 
the hope of a country, and that a free country. 

But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be as- 
sured that this Declaration will stand. It may cost 
treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will stand, and 
it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick 
gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future 
as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, 
an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our 
children will honor it. They will celebrate it with 
thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and il- 
luminations. On its annual return they will shed tears, 
copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, 
not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of grati- 
tude, and of joy. Sir, before God, I believe the hour 
has come. My whole heart is in it. All that I have, 
and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am 
now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as 
Mr. Adams of Massachusetts began, that, sink or 
swim, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Dec- 
laration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing 
of God it shall be my dying sentiment, independence 
now, and independence forever! 

(There is a loud clamor for recognition, and the 
president recognizes George Walton of Georgia.) 

George Walton. ^Mr. President and Gentlemen 
of the Continental Congress: — I am for this Declara- 
tion if the paragraph on slavery is struck out. But I 

'Adapted from the "Corner Stone" speech of Alexander H. Stephens, and 
arranged by William R. Hood, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 



A DRAMATIZATION 45 

will oppose it to the end if that paragraph is permitted 
to remain a part of it. There is not one good reason 
for introducing the slavery question at this time. The 
relations between individual master and slave have no 
place here in the greater and graver matter of differ- 
ences between the British Government and the Amer- 
ican Colonies. But since the issue is thrust upon us, I 
propose to meet it squarely and fearlessly. 

Mr. President and gentlemen, you cannot make 
equal what God Almighty has made unequal. Can 
the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? 
The Bible commands in the most emphatic language 
that servants obey in all things their masters. Liberty 
loving Greece had her slaves. Shall liberty loving 
America have less? Strike out that obnoxious para- 
graph and every delegate from the Southern colonies 
will fall in line for the Declaration of Independence, 
but if you make that paragraph a part of the Decla- 
ration many delegates from the South will withdraw 
from this convention, and then you will fight your own 
battles. 

This paragraph on slavery is founded upon ideas 
fundamentally wrong. These ideas rest upon the as- 
sumption of the equality of the races. This is an error. 
It is a sandy foundation and a government founded 
upon it will fall when the storms come and the winds 
blow. 

Let us found our new government upon the 
great truth that the negro is not the equal of the white 
man, that slavery — subordination to the superior race 
— is his natural and normal condition. This truth has 
been slow in the process of its development, like all 



46 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

other great truths in the various departments of 
science. 

Many governments have been founded upon the 
principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain 
classes of the same race; such were and are in viola- 
tion of the laws of nature. With us, all the white race, 
however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye 
of the law. Not so with the negro; subordination 
is his place. lie, by nature or by the curse of Ca- 
naan, is fitted for that condition which he now occu- 
pies in our system. The architect, in the construc- 
tion of a building, lays the foundation with proper 
material — the granite; then comes the brick or the 
marble. The substratum of our society is made of the 
material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we 
know that it is best not only for the superior race, but 
for the inferior race, that it should be so. It is, indeed, 
in conformity with the laws of the Creator. It is not 
for us to inquire into the wisdom of His plans, or to 
question them. For His own good purposes He has 
made one race to differ from another, as He has made 
"one star to differ from another star in glory." 

Therefore, I declare again that you cannot make 
equal what God Almighty has made unequal. He 
has made the negro and the white man unequal. You 
cannot make them equal. And I move that the para- 
graph on slavery be struck out. I have measured my 
words, gentlemen. The responsibility is yours. 

{At the close of Mr. Walton's speech there is a 
loud clamor for recognition, and the chair recog- 
nizes Samuel Adams.) 



A DRAMATIZATION 47 

A Samuel Adams. Mr. President and Gentlemen: — 
While I have no personal objections against this para- 
graph on slavery — for personally I favor it — yet from 
the standpoint of the general welfare of the colonies, 
I deem it unwise at this time to take any action either 
for or against the question of slavery. Therefore I 
second the motion of Mr. Walton to strike out the 
paragraph on slavery. 

Mr. Hancock. Gentlemen of the Continental Con- 
gress: — It has been duly moved and seconded that the 
paragraph in this Declaration on slavery be struck 
out. You have heard the motion, are there any re- 
marks.? 

William Hooper: Mr. President, before voting 
on this motion, I wish to have the paragraph on slav- 
ery read again. 

{This request is seconded by many of the delegates.) 

Mr. Hancock. The secretary will read the para- 
graph on slavery again. 

(The secretary reads the paragraph on slavery as 
follows:) 

He has waged cruel war against human nature it- 
self, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty 
in the persons of a distant people who never offended 
him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in 



48 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in 
their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, 
the opprobium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the 
Christian king of Great Britain. Determined to keep 
open a market where men should be bought and sold, 
he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every 
legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this exe- 
crable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors 
might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now ex- 
citing those very people to rise in arms among us and 
to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them 
by murdering the people upon whom he obtruded them : 
thus paying off, former crimes committed against the 
liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them 
to commit against the lives of another. 

{After the reading of this paragraph the delegates 
call for a vote on Mr, Walton's motion.) 

Mr, Hancock. Gentlemen of the Congress, a vote 
is called for on Mr. Walton's motion to strike out the 
paragraph on slavery. As many as are in favor of this 
motion make it known by saying "aye" (a strong aye 
vote) ; as many as are opposed to the motion make it 
known by responding "no" (a light vote of nos). The 
ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, and the para- 
graph on slavery is struck out. Gentlemen, what is 
your further pleasure.'^ 

{A loud clamor for recognition, the chair recog- 
nizing Joseph Hewes of North Carolina.) 



A DRAMATIZATION 49 

Joseph Hewes. ^Mr. President and Gentlemen 
of the Continental Congress: — No man thinks more 
highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as the 
abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have op- 
posed this Declaration in these debates. But different 
men often see the same subject in different lights; and, 
therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful 
to those gentlemen, if, entertaining, as I do, opinions 
of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak 
forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This 
is no time for ceremony. The question before the house 
is one of awful moment to this country. For my own 
part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of 
freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magni- 
tude of the subject ought to be the freedom of debate. 
It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at 
truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold 
to God and our country. Should I keep back my 
opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, 
I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward 
my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the 
Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly 
kings. 

Mr. President, it is natural for man to indulge in 
the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes 
against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that 
siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the 
part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous 
struggle for liberty?! Are we disposed to be of the 

•Prom Wirt's "Supposed Speech of Patrick Henry." 



50 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

number of those, who, having eyes, see not, and hav- 
ing ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern 
their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever 
anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know 
the truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. 

1 have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; 
and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way 
of judging of the future but by the past. And judging 
by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the 
conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, 
to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been 
pleased to solace themselves and the house.'^ Is it that 
insidious smile with which our petition has been lately 
received.^ Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to 
your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a 
kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of 
our petition comports with those warlike preparations 
which cover our waters and darken our land. Are 
fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and recon- 
ciliation? . Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be 
reconciled, that force* must be called in to win back 
our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These 
are the implements of war and subjugation; the last 
arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, 
sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not 
to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any 
other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any 
enemy, in this quarter of the world, that calls for all this 
accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has 
none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for 
no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon 



A DRAMATIZATION 51 

US those chains, which the British ministry have been 
so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? 
Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that 
for the last ten years. Have we anything new to ofTer 
upon, the subject? Nothing! We have held the sub- 
ject up in every light of which it is capable; but it 
has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and 
humble supplication? What terms shall we find, 
which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, 
I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer, 

{A loud clamor for recognition. The chair recog- 
nizes Robert Morris of Pennsylvania.) 

Robert Morris. ^Mr. President and Gentlemen 
of the Continental Congress: — I am opposed to war 
first, last, and all the time. It is a relic of barbarism. 
I believe in the gospel of peace on earth, good will 
toward men. It would be better to settle our differ- 
ences with England even by flipping a coin than by 
fighting and killing one another. Let us hearken unto 
the voice of God as it comes ringing down the centu- 
ries from Mount Sinai, "Thou shalt not kill." Shall 
this new government start out as the Cain among the 
nations of earth with the blood of our brethren upon 
our hands? God forbid that we make ourselves so 
foolish and so reckless as this! The history of trial by 
battle is the history of folly and wickedness. As we 

*RoV)ert Morris later signed the Declaration of Independence and through 
his influence the American Revolution was financed. This speech is adapted 
from Sumner's "True Grandeur of Nations'* and other sources. 



52 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

revert to those early periods in the history of the 
human race in which it prevailed, our minds are 
shocked at the barbarism which we behold; we are 
horror stricken at the awful subjection of justice to 
brute force. 

Who told you, fond man! to regard that as glory 
when performed by a nation, which is condemned as a 
crime and a barbarism, when committed by an indi- 
vidual? In what vain conceit of wisdom and virtue 
do you find this degrading morality? Where is it de- 
clared that God, who is no respecter of persons, is a 
respecter of multitudes? Whence do you draw these 
partial laws of a powerful and impartial God? Man- 
is immortal; but states are mortal. Man has a higher 
destiny than states. Shall states be less amenable to 
the great moral laws of God than man? Each indi- 
vidual is an atom of the mass. Must not the mass be 
like individuals of which it is composed? Shall the 
mass do what the individual may not do? No! A 
thousand times NO! The same laws which govern 
individuals govern masses, as the same laws in nature 
prevail over large and small things, controlling the 
fall of an apple and the orbits of the planets, v 

And who is this god of battles that some of you men 
believe in with so much faith? It is Mars — man-slay- 
ing, blood-polluted, city-smiting. Mars! Him we can- 
not adore. It is not he who causes the sun to shine on 
the just and the unjust. It is not he who tempers the 
wind to the shorn lamb. It is not he who distils the oil 
of gladness in every upright heart. It is not he who 
fills the fountain of mercy and goodness. He is not the 



A DRAMATIZATION 53 

God of love and Justice. The god of battles is not the 
God of Christians; to him can ascend no prayer of 
Christian thanksgiving; for him no words of worship 
in Christian temples, no swelling anthem to peal the 
note of praise. 

Let us cease, then,, to Ipok foi a lamp to our feet in 
the feeble tapers 4hat-glinmvei*Tti the sepulchers 6f"tEe~~~-— 
" p as t. Rather let^us hail those ever-burning lights 
above in^vhose beaitis is the brightness of the noon- 
day. As tile cedars of Lebanon are higher than the 
grass of the valley, as the heavens are higher than the 
earth, as man i& higher than the beasts of the field, 
as the angels are higher than man, as he that raleth 
his spirit is higher than he that taketh a city; so are 
the virtues and glories and victories of peace higher 
than the virtues and victories of war. / 

To this great work of world-wide peace let me sum- 
mon you. Believe that you can do it, and you can do 
it. Blessed are the peace-makers for they are the 
children of God. \^-- 



{Loud clamor for recognition, the chair recogniz- 
ing Patrick Henry of Virginia.) 

Patrick Henry. ^Mr. President and Gentlemen of 
the Continental Congress: — We have done every- 
thing that could be done, to avert the storm which is 
now coming on. We have petitioned; we have re- 
monstrated; we have supplicated; we have pros- 

'From Wirt's "Supposed Speech of Partick Henry." 

AMERICA FIRST — 4. 



54 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

trated ourselves before the throne, and have implored 
its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the 
ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been 
slighted; our remonstrances have produted additional 
violence and insult; our supplications have been dis- 
regarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, 
from the foot of the throne ! In vain, after these things, 
may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconcilia- 
tion. There is no longer any room for hope. If we 
wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate 
those inestimable privileges for which we have been 
so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon 
the noble struggle in which we have been so long en- 
gaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to 
abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall 
be obtained — we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must 
fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is 
all that is left us. 

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope 
with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we 
be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next 
year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and 
when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? 
Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? 
Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by 
lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive 
phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound 
us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make 
proper use of those means which the God of nature 
hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, 
armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a coun- 



A DRAMATIZATION 55 

try as that which we possess, are invincible by any 
force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, 
sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just 
God who presides over the destinies of nations, and 
who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. 
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the 
vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have 
no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is 
now too late to retire from the contest. There is no 
retreat, but in submission and slavery! Our chains 
are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains 
of Boston. The war is inevitable — and let it come! 
I repeat it, sir, let it come. 

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentle- 
men may cry, Peace, peace — but there is no peace. 
The war is actually begun ! The next gale, that sweeps 
from the north, will bring to our ears the clash of 
resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the 
field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentle- 
men wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, 
or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of 
chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I 
know not what course others may take; but as for 
me, give me liberty or give me death! 

(At the close of Mr. Henry's speech there are loud 
calls for a vote upon the question. President Han- 
cock orders the secretary to call the roll of colo- 
nies in geographic order beginning with New 
Hampshire.) 



56 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

Secretary Thomson. New Hampshire! 

JosiAH Bartlett. Mr. President and Gentlemen: — 
New Hampshire is represented in the Congress by 
three delegates. Her people have appealed to us and 
have instructed us to work for and vote for Indepen- 
dence. I believe everybody knows more than any 
body. I consider it a signal honor, sir, and it is the 
happiest hour of my life, to lead in this roll call in 
favor of this Declaration. New Hampshire votes 
aye. 

(Shouts of *' Three cheers for New Hampshire.**) 

Secretary Thomson. Massachusetts! 

Samuel Adams. Mr. President: — The king of 
England lias set a price upon your head and mine. 
If this Declaration is not made good by the people of 
these colonies you and I will be shot, hanged by the 
neck till dead, or burned at the stake as traitors. If 
we fail, my only regret will be that I have but one life 
to give for my country. But with faith in the people 
and in God to carry our cause through to a glorious 
victory, the delegates from Massachusetts stand as 
one man for Independence. Massachusetts, therefore, 
votes aye. 

(Shouts of *' Three cheers for Massachusetts, 
and long live Samuel Adams and John Hancock. 
Down with the tyrant king of England '.") 



A DRAMATIZATION 57 

Secretary Thomson. Rhode Island ! 

Stephen Hopkins. Mr. President: — Rhode Island 
is a small colony. She is represented in this Congress 
by only two delegates. But all that we are and all we 
hope to be we are ready here and now to give for In- 
dependence. Rhode Island votes aye. 

{Shouts of ''Three cheers for brave Rhode Island, 
Stephen Hopkins, and William Ellery.'') 

Secretary Thomson. Connecticut! 

Roger Sherman. Mr. President and Gentlemen: — 
I have already addressed you at some length in favor 
of this Declaration. It becomes my happy duty now 
to cast the unanimous vote of the four delegates from 
Connecticut for independeiice. Connecticut votes 
aye. 

{Shouts of "Long live Roger Sherman! Three 
cheers for Connecticut.**) 

Secretary Thomson. New York ! 

William Floyd. Mr. President and Gentlemen: — 
The instructions against independence for the dele- 
gates from New York have never been recalled. We, 
therefore, request the privilege to refrain from voting 
on this question. We regret the situation, gentlemen! 



58 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

President Hancock. New York is excused from 
voting on this question. 

Secretary Thomson. New Jersey ! 

Richard Stockton. Mr. President and Gentle- 
men: — I am happy to say that New Jersey has given 
her five delegates in this Congress instructions to vote 
for independence. New Jersey, therefore, votes aye. 

(Shouts of ' TJiree cheers for Neic Jersey.") 
Secretary Thomson. Pennsylvania! 

Benjamin Franklin. Mr. President and Gentle- 
men: — From the beginning of this Congress the dele- 
gates from Pennsylvania have labored under instruc- 
tions against independence. But during the past 
three months the friends of independence in this com- 
monwealth have worked in season and out of season to 
have these instructions cancelled and permission given 
us to vote for independence. At a mass meeting in 
Philadelphia on June 18, presided over by that dis- 
tinguished and influential radical, Colonel Daniel 
Roberdeau, and attended by over 7,000 citizens from 
all sections of the state, a public sentiment was created 
and started that resulted in the overthrow of the old 
government of the aristocrats of the old Assembly and 
then established a new government of the people un- 
der the authority of the Conference of Committees 
which has given the delegates from Pennsylvania in- 



A DRAMATIZATION 69 

structions to vote for independence. Two of our dele- 
gates, John Dickinson and Robert Morris, have retired 
from this Congress considering such instructions a 
recall of their membership in this body. Two other 
delegates from Pennsylvania, Charles Humphreys and 
William Williams, question the authority of the Con- 
ference of Committees and hold that the instructions 
of the old defunct Assembly are still binding upon 
them. They vote against independence. But James 
Wilson who has been opposed to Independence bows 
to the will of the people and joins John Morton and 
myself in voting for Independence. Under the rule of 
this Congress made in its beginning session that a 
majority of the delegates from each colony, present 
and voting determines its vote upon such a question 
as this, Pennsylvania casts two votes against indepen- 
dence and three votes for independence and therefore 
votes aye. 

{Shouts of "Three cheers for Pennsylvania! Long 
live Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, and James 
Wilsonr) 

{Immediately following the applause for Frank- 
lin, Caesar Rodney, a delegate from Delaware, 
makes his appearance just in time to vote. He has 
come eighty miles on horseback and has not had 
time to change his boots and spurs and still car- 
ries a riding whip. He is given a great ovation.) 

Secretary Thomson. Delaware! 



60 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

Thomas McKean. Mr. President, and Gentlemen: 
— Until this moment the vote for Delaware has been 
in doubt. George Read, my colleague, will vote 
against independence. But thank God the timely 
arrival of Caesar Rodney who joins me in voting for 
independence, places Delaware on the right side of 
this question. To make sure of this I sent an express 
rider at my own expense to Dover, Delaware, for Mr. 
Rodney. He has come eighty miles on horseback at 
post haste. He has not had time to change his riding 
attire, but he is here in time to join me in voting for 
independence. Posterity will erect a monument in 
his honor^ as they will to that other famous revolu- 
tionary rider — Paul Revere. Mr. President, under 
the rule as stated by Mr. Franklin governing the votes 
of colonies in this Congress, Delaware votes aye. 

{Shouts of ""Hurrah for Delaware! Long live 
Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney r) 

Secretary Thomson. Maryland! 

Samuel Chase. Mr. President and Gentlemen : — 
Maryland has passed through a similar struggle to 
that in Pennsylvania as described by Mr. Franklin. 
An appeal has been made to every county committee 
and one after another they have directed their repre- 
sentatives in the state convention to vote for new 
instructions to the delegates in this Congress. At last 

*A monument was recently erected at Dover in his honor. 



A DRAMATIZATION 61 

the old instructions against independence have been 
cancelled and new instructions given us in an unani- 
mous resolve to vote for independence. See the glori- 
ous effect of county instructions! Our people have 
fire if not smothered. And, therefore, Maryland 
votes aye. 

{Shouts of ^^ Three cheers for Maryland and 
Samuel Chase!") 

Secretary Thomson. Virginia! ' 

Benjamin Harrison. Mr. President and Gentle- 
men: — Virginia is here with a solid delegation for in- 
dependence. Our battle cry has been so well stated 
by Mr. Henry that we need but to repeat it now — 
Liberty or Death! Virginia votes aye. 

{Shouts 0} ''' Three cheers for Virginia! Long live 
Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison^ Thomas 
Jefferson and Patrick Henry!") 

Secretary Thomson, North Carolina! 

Joseph Hewes. Mr, President and Gentlemen: — 
We have had a hard struggle in North Carolina be- 
tween aristocracy on one hand and democracy on the 
other. But at last the people have won and North 
Carolina votes aye. 

{Shouts of "Three cheers for North Carolina!'^) 



A DRAMATIZATION 6S 

Secretary Thomson. South Carolina! 

Edward Rutledge. Mr. President and Gentle- 
men: — When Richard Henry Lee's resolution declar- 
ing for independence was first introduced I was op- 
posed to its adoption at that time. I feared that the 
people of my colony were not then ready for it. I 
thought also that for the general welfare of all the 
colonies it was then too early to declare for independ- 
ence. The contest in South Carolina for independ- 
ence has been as bitter among her own people as it 
has been in any of the other Colonies. But opinions 
alter and conditions change with the passing of time. 
Therefore, South Carolina now has a solid delegation 
here ready to walk through the fiery furnace of war, 
though it be seventy times heated, to make this dec- 
laration good. South Carolina votes aye. 

{Shouts of "Three cheers for South Carolina and 
Edward Rutledger') 

Secretary Thomson. Georgia! 

Lyman Hall. Mr. President and Gentlemen: — 
Georgia is here with three delegates who stand as one 
man for independence. Though last on the roll of 
states on this question she will be among the first in 
her efforts for American independence. Georgia 
votes aye. 

{Shouts of "Three cheers for Georgia?*) 



64 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

President Hancock. Gentlemen ot the Conti- 
nental Congress: — Twelve of the thirteen colonies 
having voted for the Declaration of Independence, 
and with no colony going on record against it, I con- 
sider our action unanimous for I am confident that 
the New York Assembly^ will give her delegation 
instructions to sign this document in the near future. 

John Adams. Mr. President, I move that this Con- 
gress do now adjourn. 

Benjamin Franklin. Mr. President, I second the 
motion. 

President Hancock. Gentlemen of the Conti- 
nental Congress, it has been moved by Mr. Adams 
of Massachusetts and seconded by Mr. Franklin of 
Pennsylvania that we do now adjourn. As many as 
favor this motion make known by saying aye, 

{Unanimous response of ayes.) 

The motion to adjourn has been carried unani- 
mously and this Congress is therefore adjourned. 



Scene II— The Spirit of '76. 

Here repeat the Tableau of the Spirit of Seventy-six. 

'On July 9, 1776, New \'ork instructed her delegates to sign 



A DRAMATIZATION 65 



ACT IV. 

Scene I. — Washington's Resignation. (A special ses- 
sion of the Continental Congress to receive the Resigna- 
tion of Washington.) 

President Hancock. Gentlemen of the Conti- 
nental Congress: — Eight years ago we made General 
George Washington Commander-in-Chief of the armies 
raised and to be raised for American Independence. 
Through seven long years of war, against overwhelm- 
ing odds, in which brave men did brave deeds, the 
rich man gave his wealth and the poor man gave his 
life, baptizing their country's soil with their own blood 
from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, the brave soldiers 
under General Washington fought on until an army 
of veteran soldiers surrendered to a band of insurgent 
husbandmen. The American nation has been born. 
Its independence has been recognized by Great Britain 
and the civilized world. Peace has come! And Gen- 
eral Washington desires to surrender his commission 
to the Congress that elected him to this position. He 
is in waiting to do this. I therefore appoint John 
Adams, of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of 
Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Samuel 
Chase of Maryland, Patrick Henry of Virginia, Ed- 
ward Rutledge of South Carolina, and Lyman Hall of 
Georgia, as an honorary committee to escort General 
Washington before this Congress to receive his resig- 
nation. 



66 THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

{General Washington is escorted before Congress and 
makes the following address:) 

Mr. President: — The great events on which my 
resignation depended, having at length taken place, 
I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratu- 
lations to Congress, and of presenting myself before 
them to surrender into their hands the trust committed 
to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the 
service of my country. 

Happy in the confirmation of our independence and 
sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded 
the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I 
resign, with satisfaction, the appointment I accepted 
with diffidence; a diffidence in my abilities to accom- 
plish so arduous a task, which, however, was super- 
seded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, 
the support of the Supreme Power of the Union, and 
the patronage of Heaven. 

The successful termination of the war has verified 
the most sanguine expectations; and my gratitude 
for the interposition of Providence, and the assistance 
I have received from my countrymen, increases with 
every review of the momentous contest. 

While I repeat my obligations to the army in gen- 
eral, I should do injustice to my own feelings, not to 
acknowledge, in this place, the peculiar services and 
distinguished merits of the persons who have been 
attached to my person during the war. It was im- 
possible the choice of confidential officers to compose 
my family could have been more fortunate. Permit 



A DRAMATIZATION 67 

me sir, to recommend in particular those who have 
continued in the service to the present moment as 
worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Con- 
gress. 

I consider it as an indispensable duty to close this 
last solemn act of my official life, by commending the 
interests of our dearest country to the protection of 
Almighty God, and those who have the superintend- 
ence of them to his holy keeping. 

Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire 
from the great theater of action; and, bidding an af- 
fectionate farewell to this august body, under whose 
orders I have long acted, I here offer my commission- 
and take my leave of all the employments of public 
life. 

{The Continental Congress, standing and shout- 
ing in concert, ''Long live General George Wash- 
ington! First in war! First in peace! And 
First in the hearts of his countrymen!") 

CURTAIN 



AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 



AMERICA FIRST 5. 




(70) 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



WHAT IS PATRIOTISM 

Johnson defines a patriot as one whose ruling passion 
is the love of his country, and patriotism as love and 
zeal for one's country. -Curtis tells us that Lowell's 
pursuit was literature, but patriotism was his passion. 
"His love of country was that of a lover for his mistress. 
He resented the least imputation upon the ideal 
America, and nothing was finer than his instinctive 
scorn for the pinchbeck patriotism which brags and 
boasts and swaggers, insisting that bigness is greatness 
and vulgarity simplicity, and the will of a majority 
the moral law." 

While some of us cannot make Lowell's pursuit our 
pursuit, we all can and should make his passion our 
passion. Let us all, the native born as well as the 
naturalized, say, deep down in our hearts with a patri- 
otism and a courage that will back it up and make 
it good, "Our Country — right or wrong; if she is wrong 
we will set her right; if she is right we will keep her 
right; and so let us trust in God and believe she is 
right." 

Times like these demand men. Let American boys 
be taught in the home and in the school and by the 
example of their fathers to be men among men. 

*'Men whom the lust of oflSce will not kill. 
Men whom the spoils of oflSce cannot buy. 
Men who possess opinions and a will. 
Men who have honor and will not lie; 

71 



72 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

Men who can stand before the demagogue 
And down his treacherous flattering without winking. 
Tall men, sun crowned, w4io live above the fog 
In public duty and in private thinking !" ^ 

Times like these demand women ! Let American 
girls be taught in the home and in the school and by 
the example of their mothers to be women among 
women. 

*'Be women ! on to duty ! 

Raise the world from all that's low; 

Place high in the social heaven 

Virtue's fair and radiant bow; 

Lend thy influence to each effort 

That shall raise our nature human; 

Be not fashion's gilded ladies, — 

Be brave, whole-souled, true women !" ^ 

To help to make such men and women of all Ameri- 
can boys and girls — Americans in deeds as well as in 
words — Americans, who knowing their rights,dare main- 
tain them '''without compromise and at any cost"" — this is 
the purpose of the following selections. 

Jasper L. McBrien. 



^From the poem entitled "Wanted," by J. G. Holland. 
^Edward Brooks. 



AMERICA FUR ME ' 

'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down 

Among the famous palaces and cities of renown, 

To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the 

kings — 
But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things. 

So it's home again, and home again, America for me! 
My heart is turning home again, and there I long 

to be. 
In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean 

bars. 
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full 

of stars. 

Oh! London is a man's town, there's power in the air; 
And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair; 
And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to 

study Rome; 
But when it comes to living, there is no place like home. 

I like the German fir- woods, in green battalions drilled; 
I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains 

filled; 
But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble 

for a day 
In the friendly western woodland where Nature has 

her way! 

'From "White Bees and Other Poems," by Henry van Dyke, copyright, 
1909, by Charles Scribner's Sons. By permission of Charles Scribner's 
Sons, publishers. 

78 



74 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems 
to lack: 

The Past is too much with her, and the people look- 
ing back. 

But the glory of the Present is to make the Future 
free — 

We love our land for what she is and what she is to be. 

Ohy ifs home again, and home again, America for me! 
I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the 

rolling sea, 
To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the 

ocean bars. 
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full 

of stars. 

Henry van Dyke 



AMERICA FIRST 

The following address was delivered by President Wilson at the celebra- 
tion of the twenty-6fth anniversary of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution, Washington, D. C, October 11th, 1915. It is given here by 
special permission of the president. 

Madam President and Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
Again it is my very great privilege to welcome you to 
the city of Washington and to the hospitalities of the 
Capital. May I admit a point of ignorance? I was 
surprised to learn that this association is so young, and 
that an association so young should devote itself wholly 
to memory I can not believe. For to me the duties to 
which you are consecrated are more than the duties and 
the pride of memory. 

There is a very great thrill to be had from the memo- 
ries of the American Revolution, but the American 
Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation, and 
the duty laid upon us by that beginning is the duty of 
bringing the things then begun to a noble triumph of 
completion. For it seems to me that the peculiarity of 
patriotism in America is that it is not a mere sentiment. 
It is an active principle of conduct. It is something 
that was born into the world, not to please it but to 
regenerate it. It is something that was born into the 
world to replace systems that had preceded it and to 
bring men out upon a new plane of privilege. The glory 
of the men whose memories you honor and perpetu- 
ate is that they saw this vision, and it was a vision of 
the future. It was a vision of great days to come when 
a little handful of three million people upon the bord- 

76 



76 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

ers of a single sea should have become a great multi- 
tude of free men and women spreading across a great 
continent, dominating the shores of two oceans, and 
sending West as well as East the influences of individual 
freedom. These things were consciously in their minds 
as they framed the great Government which was born 
out of the American Revolution; and every time we 
gather to perpetuate their memories it is incumbent 
upon us that we should be worthy of recalling them 
and that we should endeavor by every means in our 
power to emulate their example. 

The American Revolution was the birth of a nation; 
it was the creation of a great free republic based upon 
traditions of personal liberty which theretofore had 
been confined to a single little island, but which it was 
purposed should spread to all mankind. And the singu- 
lar fascination of American history is that it has been 
a process of constant re-creation, of making over again 
in each generation the thing which was conceived at 
first. You know how peculiarly necessary that has 
been in our case, because America has not grown by 
the mere multiplication of the original stock. It is 
easy to preserve tradition with continuity of blood; 
it is easy in a single family to remember the origins of 
the race and the purposes of its organization; but it is 
not so easy when that race is constantly being renewed 
and augumented from other sources, from stocks that 
did not carry or originate the same principles. 

So from generation to generation strangers have had 
to be indoctrinated with the principles of the American 
family, and the wonder and the beauty of it all has been 



AMERICA FIRST 77 

that the infection has been so generously easy. For 
the principles of liberty are united with the principles 
of hope. Every individual, as well as every nation, 
wishes to realize the best thing that is in him, the best 
thing that can be conceived out of the materials of 
which his spirit is constructed It has happened in a 
way that fascinates the imagination that we have not 
only been augumented by additions from outside, but 
that we have been greatly stimulated by those addi- 
tions. Living in the easy prosperity of a free people, 
knowing that the sun had always been free to shine 
upon us and prosper our undertakings, we did not 
realize how hard the task of liberty is and how rare the 
privilege of liberty is; but men were drawn out of 
every climate and out of every race because of an ir- 
resistible attraction of their spirits to the American 
ideal. They thought of America as lifting, like that 
great statue in the harbor of New York, a torch to 
light the pathway of men to the things that they de- 
sire, and men of all sorts and conditions struggled 
toward that light and came to our shores with an eager 
desire to realize it, and a hunger for it such as some of 
us no longer felt, for we were as if satiated and satisfied 
and were indulging ourselves after a fashion that did 
not belong to the ascetic devotion of the early devotees 
of those great principles. Strangers came to remind 
us of what we had promised ourselves and through 
ourselves had promised mankind. All men came to us 
and said, "Where is the bread of life with which you 
promised to feed us, and have you partaken of it your- 
selves?" For my part, I believe that the constant 



78 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

renewal of this people out of foreign stocks has been a 
constant source of reminder to this people of what the 
inducement was that was offered to men who would 
come and be of our number. 

Now we have come to a time of special stress and 
test. There never was time when we needed more 
clearly to conserve the principles of our own patriotism 
than this present time. The rest of the world from 
which our polities were drawn seems for the time in 
the crucible and no man can predict what will come 
out of that crucible. We stand apart, unembroiled, 
conscious of our own principles, conscious of what we 
hope and purpose, so far as our powers permit, for the 
world at large, and it is necessary that we should con- 
solidate the American principle. Every political 
action, every social action, should have for its object 
in America at this time to challenge the spirit of Ameri- 
ca; to ask that every man and woman who thinks first 
of America should rally to the standards of our life. 
There have been some among us who have not thought 
first of America, who have thought to use the might of 
America in some matter not of America's origination. 
They have forgotten that the first duty of a nation is 
to express its own individual principles in the action 
of the family of nations and not to seek to aid and abet 
any rival or contrary ideal. Neutrality is a negative 
word. It is a word that does not express what America 
ought to feel. America has a heart and that heart 
throbs with all sorts of intense sympathies, but 
America has schooled its heart to love the things that 
America believes in and it ought to devote itself only to 



AMERICA FIRST 79 

the things that America beheves in ; and, believing that 
America stands apart in its ideals, it ought not to allow 
itself to be drawn, so far as its heart is concerned, into 
anybody's quarrel. Not because it does not under- 
stand the quarrel, not because it does not in its head 
assess the merits of the controversy, but because 
America has promised the world to stand apart and 
maintain certain principles of action which are grounded 
in law and in justice. We are not trying to keep out of 
trouble ; we are trying to preserve the foundations upon 
which peace can be rebuilt. Peace can be rebuilt only 
upon the ancient and accepted principles of interna- 
tional law, only upon those things which remind nations 
of their duties to each other, and, deeper than that, of 
their duties to mankind and to humanity. 

America has a great cause which is not confined to the 
American continent. It is the cause of humanity it- 
self. I do not mean in anything that I say even to im- 
ply a judgment upon any nation or upon any policy, 
for my object here this afternoon is not to sit in judg- 
ment upon anybody but ourselves and to challenge 
you to assist all of us who are trying to make America 
more than ever conscious of her own principles and her 
own duty. I look forward to the necessity in every 
political agitation in the years which are immediately 
at hand of calling upon every man to declare himself, 
where he stands. Is it America first, or is it not? 

We ought to be very careful about some of the im- 
pressions that we are forming just now. There is too 
general an impression, I fear, that very large numbers 
of our fellow-citizens born in other lands have not en- 



80 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

tertained with sufficient intensity and affection the 
American ideal. But the number of such is, I am sure, 
not large. Those who would seek to represent them 
are very vocal, but they are not very influential. Some 
of the best stuff of America has come out of foreign 
lands, and some of the best stuff in America is in the 
men who are naturalized citizens of the United States. 
I would not be afraid upon the test of "America first" 
to take a census of all the foreign-born citizens of the 
United States, for I know that the vast majority of 
them came here because they believed in America ; and 
their belief in America has made them better citizens 
than some people who were born in America. They 
can say that they have bought this privilege with a 
great price. They have left their homes, they have left 
their kindred, they have broken all the nearest and 
dearest ties of human life in order to come to a new 
land, take a new rootage, begin a new life, and so by 
self-sacrifice express their confidence in a new princi- 
ple; whereas, it cost us none of these things. We were 
born into this privilege; we were rocked and cradled 
in it; we did nothing to create it; and it is, therefore, 
the greater duty on our part to do a great deal to en- 
hance it and preserve it. I am not deceived as to the 
balance of opinion among the foreign-born citizens of 
the United States, but I am in a hurry for an oppor- 
tunity to have a line-up and let the men who are 
thinking first of other countries stand on one side and 
all those that are for America first, last, and all the time 
on the other side. 

Now, you can do a great deal in this direction. When 



AMERICA FIRST 81 

I was a college officer I used to be very much opposed 
to hazing; not because hazing is not wholesome, but 
because sophomores are poor judges. I remember a 
very dear friend of mine, a professor of ethics on the 
other side of the water, was asked if he thought it was 
ever justifiable to tell a he. He said Yes, he thought 
it was sometimes justifiable to lie; "but," he said, 
"it is so difficult to judge of the justification that I 
usually tell the truth." I think that ought to be the 
motto of the sophomore. There are freshmen who need 
to be hazed, but the need is to be judged by such nice 
tests that a sophomore is hardly old enough to deter- 
mine them. But the world can determine them. We 
are not freshmen at college, but we are constantly 
hazed. I would a great deal rather be obliged to draw 
pepper up my nose than to observe the hostile glances 
of my neighbors. I would a great deal rather be beaten 
than ostracized. I would a great deal rather endure 
any sort of physical hardship if I might have the af- 
fection of my fellow-men. We constantly discipline 
our fellow-citizens by having an opinion about them. 
That is the sort of discipline we ought now to admini- 
ster to everybody who is not to the very core of his 
heart an American. Just have an opinion about him and 
let him experience the atmospheric effects of that opin- 
ion ! And I know of no body of persons comparable to a 
body of ladies for creating an atmosphere of opinion ! I 
have myself in part yielded to the influences of that 
atmosphere, though it took me a long time to deter- 
mine how I was going to vote in New Jersey. 

So it has seemed to me that my privilege this after- 



82 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

noon was not merely a privilege of courtesy, but the 
real privilege of reminding you — for I am sure I am 
doing nothing more — of the great principles which 
we stand associated to promote. I for my part rejoice 
that we belong to a country in which the whole busi- 
ness of government is so difficult. We do not take 
orders from anybody; it is a universal communica- 
tion of conviction, the most subtle, delicate, and diffi- 
cult of processes. There is not a single individual's 
opinion that is not of some consequence in making 
up the grand total, and to be in this great co-operative 
effort is the most stimulating thing in the world. A 
man standing alone may well misdoubt his own judg- 
ment. He may mistrust his own intellectual processes; 
he may even wander if his own heart leads him right 
in matters of public conduct; but if he finds his heart 
part of the great throb of a national life, there can be 
no doubt about it. If that is his happy circumstance, 
then he may know that he is part of one of the great 
forces of the world. 

I would not feel any exhilaration in belonging to 
America if I did not feel that she was something more 
than a rich and powerful nation. I should not feel 
proud to be in some respects and for a little while her 
spokesman if I did not believe that there was some- 
thing else than physical force behind her. I believe 
that the glory of America is that she is a great spiritual 
conception and that in the spirit of her institutions 
dwells not only her distinction but her power. The one 
thing that the world can not permanently resist is the 
moral force of great and triumphant convictions. 



THE MEANING OF THE FLAG 

The following address on the Flag was delivered by President Woodrow 
Wilson from the south portico of the Treasury Building, Washington, D. C, 
June 14, 1915. 

Mr. Secretary, Friends, and Fellow-Citizens: — 
I know of nothing more difficult than to render an 
adequate tribute to the emhjem of our nation. For 
those of us who have shared that nation's life and 
felt the beat of its pulse it must be considered a matter 
of impossibility to express the great things which that 
emblem embodies. I venture to say that a great 
many things are said about the flag which very few 
people stop to analyze. For me the flag does not ex- 
press a mere body of vague sentiment. The flag of the 
United States has not been created by rhetorical sen- 
tences in declarations of independence and in bills of 
rights. It has been created by the experience of a 
great people, and nothing is written upon it that has 
not been written by their life. It is the embodiment, 
not of a sentiment, but of a history, and no man can 
rightly serve under that flag who has not caught some 
of the meaning of that history. 

Experience, ladies and gentlemen, is made by men 
and women. National experience is the product of 
those who do the living under that flag. It is their 
living that has created its significance. You do not 
create the meaning of a national life by any literary 
exposition of it, but by the actual daily endeavors of a 



84 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

great people to do the tasks of the day and live up to 
the ideals of honesty and righteousness and just con- 
duct. And as we think of these things, our tribute is 
to those men who have created this experience. Many 
of them are known by name to all the world — states- 
men, soldiers, merchants, masters of industry, men of 
letters and of thought who have coined our hearts into 
action or into words. Of these men we feel that they 
have shown us the way. They have not been afraid 
to go before. They have known that they were speak- 
ing the thoughts of a great people when they led that 
great people along the paths of achievement. There 
was not a single swashbuckler among them. They 
were men of sober, quiet thought, the more effective 
because there was no bluster in it. They were men who 
thought along the lines of duty, not along the lines of 
self-aggrandizement. They were men, in short, who 
thought of the people whom they served and not of 
themselves. 

But while we think of these men and do honor to 
them as to those who have shown us the way, let us 
not forget that the real experience and life of a nation 
lies with the great multitude of unknown men. It 
lies with those men whose names are never in the 
headlines of newspapers, those men who know the heat 
and pain and desperate loss of hope that sometimes 
comes in the great struggle of daily life; not the men 
who stand on the side and comment, not the men who 
merely try to interpret the great struggle, but the 
men who are engaged in the struggle. They consti- 
tute the body of the nation. This flag is the essence 



THE MEANING OF THE FLAG 85 

of their daily endeavors. This flag does not express 
any more than what they are and what they desire 
to be. 

As I think of the life of this great nation it seems to 
me that we sometimes look to the wrong places for its 
sources. We look to the noisy places, where men are 
talking in the market place ; we look to where men are 
expressing their individual opinions; we look to where 
partisans are expressing passions: instead of trying 
to attune our ears to that voiceless mass of men who 
merely go about their daily tasks, try to be honorable, 
try to serve the people they love, try to live worthy 
of the great communities to which they belong. These 
are the breath of the nation's nostrils; these are the 
sinews of its might. 

How can any man presume to interpret the emblem 
of the United States, the emblem of what we would 
fain be among the family of nations, and find it incum- 
bent upon us to be in the daily round of routine duty.f^ 
This is Flag Day, but that only means that it is a day 
when we are to recall the things which we should do 
every day of our lives. There are no days of special 
patriotism. There are no days when we should be 
more patriotic than on other days. We celebrate the 
Fourth of July merely because the great enterprise of 
liberty was started on the fourth of July in America, 
but the great enterprise of liberty was not begun in 
America. It is illustrated by the blood of thousands 
of martyrs who lived and died before the great experi- 
ment on this side of the water. The Fourth of July 
merely marks the day when we consecrated ourselves 

AMERICA FIRST — 6. 



86 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

as a nation to this high thing which we pretend to 
serve. The benefit of a day Hke this is merely in turn- 
ing away from the things that distract us, turning 
away from the things that touch us personally and ab- 
sorb our interest in the hours of daily work. We re- 
mind ourselves of those things that are greater than 
we are, of those principles by which we believe our 
hearts to be elevated, of the more diflBcult things that 
we must undertake in these days of perplexity when a 
man's judgment is safest only when it follows the line 
of principle. 

I am solemnized in the presence of such a day. I 
would not undertake to speak your thoughts. You 
must interpret them for me. But I do feel that back, 
not only of every public oflBcial, but of every man and 
woman of the United States, there marches that great 
host which has brought us to the present day; the 
host that has never forgotten the vision which it saw 
at the birth of the nation; the host which always re- 
sponds to the dictates of humanity and of liberty; the 
host that will always constitute the strength and the 
great body of friends of every man who does his duty 
to the United States. 

I am sorry that you do not wear a little flag of the 
Union every day instead of some days. I can only ask 
you, if you lose the physical emblem, to be sure that 
you wear it in your heart, and the heart of America 
shall interpret the heart of the world. 



MAKERS OF THE FLAG 

The following address was delivered by the Honorable Franklin K. Lane, 
Secretary of the Interior, before the officers and employees of this Depart- 
ment, about 5,000 in number, at the Inner Court, Patent Office Building, 
June 14, 1914. 

This morning, as I passed into the Land Office, The 
Flag dropped me a most cordial salutation, and from 
its rippling folds I heard it say: "Good morning, Mr. 
Flag Maker." 

*T beg your pardon, Old Glory," I said, "aren't you 
mistaken.'^ I am not the president of the United States, 
nor a member of Congress, nor even a general in the 
army. I am only a government clerk." 

"I greet you again, Mr. Flag Maker," replied the gay 
voice, "I know you well. You are the man who worked 
in the swelter of yesterday straightening out the tan- 
gle of that farmer's homestead in Idaho, or perhaps 
you found the mistake in that Indian contract in Okla- 
homa, or helped to clear that patent for the hopeful 
inventor in New York, or pushed the opening of that 
new ditch in Colorado, or made that mine in Illinois 
more safe, or brought relief to the old soldier in Wyo- 
ming. No matter; whichever one of these beneficent 
individuals you may happen to be, I give you greeting, 
Mr. Flag Maker." 

I was about to pass on, when The Flag stopped me 
with these words : 

"Yesterday the president spoke a word that made 
happier the future of ten millions peons in Mexico; 

87 



88 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

but that act looms no larger on the flag than the strug- 
gle which the boy in Georgia is making to win the Corn 
Club prize this summer. 

"Yesterday the Congress spoke a word which will 
open the door of Alaska; but a mother in Michigan 
worked from sunrise until far into the night, to give 
her boy an education. She, too, is making the flag. 

"Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial 
panics, and yesterday, maybe, a school teacher in Ohio 
taught his first letters to a boy who will one day write 
a song that will give cheer to the millions of our race. 
We are all making the flag." 

"But," I said impatiently, "these people were only 
working." 

Then came a great shout from The Flag: 

"THE WORK that we do is the making of the flag. 

"I am not the flag; not at all. I am but its shadow. 

"I am whatever you make me, nothing more. 

"I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a 
people may become. 

"I live a changing life, a life of moods and passions, 
of heartbreaks and tired muscles. 

"Sometimes I am strong with pride, when men do 
an honest work, fitting the rails together truly. 

"Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from 
me, and cynically I play the coward. 

"Sometimes I am loud, garish and full of that ego 
that blasts judgment. 

"But always I am all that you hope to be, and have 
the courage to try for. 



MAKERS OF THE FLAG 89 

"I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and en- 
nobling hope. 

"I am the day's work of the weakest man, and the 
largest dream of the most daring. 

"I am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and 
the statute makers, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman 
and street sweep, cook, counselor, and clerk. 

"I am the battle of yesterday, and the mistake of to- 
morrow. 

"I am the mystery of the men who do without know- 
ing why. 

"I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned pur- 
pose of resolution. 

"I am no more than what you believe me to be and I 
am all that you believe I can be. 

"I am what you make me, nothing more. 

"I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, 
a symbol of yourself, the pictured suggestion of that 
big thing which makes this Nation. My stars and 
my stripes are your dream and your labors. They 
are bright with cheer, brilliant with courage, firm with 
faith, because you have made them so out of your 
hearts. For you are the makers of the flag and it is 
well that you glory in the making." 



THE FLAG OF THE UNION FOREVER 

Speech of General Fitzhugh Lee at a dinner given by the Friendly Sons 
of St. Patrick and the Hibernian Society of Philadelphia, at the city of 
Philadelphia, September 17, 1887. The occasion of the dinner was the one 
hundreth anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the United 
States. General Lee, then governor of Virginia, was the guest of Governor 
Beaver at the dinner. The Chairman, Hon. Andrew G. Curtin [Pennsyl- 
vania's war governor], in introducing General Lee said: "We have here to- 
day a gentleman whom I am glad to call my friend, though during the war 
he was in dangerous and unpleasant proximity to me. He once threatened 
the capital of this great state. I did not wish him to come in, and was very 
glad when he went away. He was then my enemy and I was his. But, 
thank God that is past; and in the enjoyment of the rights and interests 
common to all as American citizens, I am his friend and he is my friend. 1 
introduce to you. Governor Fitzhugh Lee." 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Hiber- 
nian Society: — I am very glad, indeed, to have the 
honor of being present in this society once more; as 
it was my good fortune to enjoy a most pleasant visit 
here and an acquaintance with the members of your 
society last year. My engagements were such to-day 
that I could not get here earlier; and just as I was 
coming in Governor Beaver was making his excuses 
because, as he said, he had to go to pick up a visitor 
whom he was to escort to the entertainment to be 
given this evening at the Academy of Music. I am the 
visitor whom Governor Beaver is looking for. He could 
not capture me during the war, but he has captured 
me now. I am a Virginian and used to ride a pretty 
fast horse, and he could not get close enough to me. 

By the way, you have all heard of "George Wash- 

90 



THE FLAG OF THE UNION FOREVER 91 

ington and his little hatchet." The other day I heard 
a story that was a little variation upon the original, 
and I am going to take up your time for a minute by 
repeating it to you. 

It was to this effect: Old Mr. Washington and 
Mrs. Washington, the parents of George, found on 
one occasion that their supply of soap for the use of 
the family at Westmoreland had been exhausted, 
and so they decided to make some family soap. They 
made the necessary arrangements and gave the 
requisite instructions to the family servant. After 
an hour or so the servant returned and reported to 
them that he could not make that soap. "Why 
not," he was asked, "haven't you all the materials?" 
"Yes," he replied, "but there is something wrong." 
The old folks proceeded to investigate, and they 
found they had actually got the ashes of the little 
cherry tree that George had cut down with his hatchet, 
and there was no lye in it. 

Now, I assure you, there is no "lie" in what I say to 
you this afternoon, and that is, that I thank God for the 
sun of the Union which, once obscured, is now again in 
the full stage of its glory; and that its light is shining 
over Virginia as well as over the rest of this country. 
We have had our differences. I do not see, upon read- 
ing history, how they could well have been avoided, 
because they resulted from different constructions of 
the Constitution, which was the helm of the ship of 
the republic. Virginia construed it one way. Penn- 
sylvania construed it in another, and they could not 
settle their differences; so they went to war, and 



92 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

Pennsylvania, I think, probably got a little the best 
of it. 

The sword, at any rate, settled the controversy. But 
that is behind us. We have now a great and glorious 
future in front of us, and it is Virginia's duty to do all 
that she can to promote the honor and glory of this 
country. We fought to the best of our ability for four 
years; and it would be a great mistake to assume that 
you could bring men from their cabins, from their 
plows, from their houses, and from their families to 
make them fight as they fought in that contest unless 
they were fighting for a belief. Those men believed 
that they had the right construction of the Constitu- 
tion, and that a state that voluntarily entered the 
Union could voluntarily withdraw from it. They did 
not fight for Confederate money. It was not worth 
ten cents a yard. They did not fight for Confederate 
rations — you would have had to curtail the demands 
of your appetite to make it correspond with the size 
and quality of those rations. They fought for what 
they thought was a proper construction of the Con- 
stitution. 

They were defeated. They acknowledged their 
defeat. They came back to their father's house, 
and there they are going to stay. But if we are to 
continue prosperous, if this country, stretching from 
the gulf to the lakes and from ocean to ocean, is to be 
mindful of its own best interests, in the future, we will 
have to make concessions and compliances, we will 
have to bear with each other and to respect each other's 
opinions. Then we will find that that harmony will be 



THE FLAG OF THE UNION FOREVER 93 

secured which is as necessary for the welfare of states, 
as it is for the welfare of individuals. 

I have become acquainted with Governor Beaver — 
I met him in Richmond. You could not make me fight 
him now. If I had known him before the war, per- 
haps we would not have got at it. If all the Govern- 
ors had known each other, and if all the people of dif- 
ferent sections had been known to each other, or had 
been thrown together in business or social communi- 
cation, the fact would have been recognized at the 
outset, as it is to-day, that there are just as good men 
in Maine as there are in Texas, and just as good men 
in Texas as there are in Maine. Human nature is 
everywhere the same; and when intestine strifes oc- 
cur, we will doubtless always be able by a conservative, 
pacific course to pass smoothly over the rugged, rocky 
edges, and the old Ship of State will be brought into a 
safe, commodious. Constitutional harbor with the flag 
of the Union flying over her, and there it will remain. 



FROM WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 

The appeal for a perpetual union and obedience to established law, llie 
warning against the evils of partisan polities and against the dangers of en- 
tangling foreign alliance made by Washington in this immortal address were 
never more important than at the jjresent time. They will become more 
important for each succeeding generation. Let those who would know 
America's mission make a careful study of this the greatest of state papers. 

The unity of government which constitutes you one 
people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is 
a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, 
the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace 
abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very 
liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to 
foresee that from different causes and from different 
quarters much pains will be taken, many artifices em- 
ployed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this 
truth, as this is the point in your political fortress 
against which the batteries of internal and external 
enemies will be most constantly and actively (though 
often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of in- 
finite moment that you should properly estimate the 
immense value of your national union to your collec- 
tive and individual happiness; that you should cher- 
ish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment 
to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of 
it as of the palladium of your political safety and 
prosperity; watching for its preservation with jeal- 
ous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest 
even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, 

94 



Washington's farewell address 95 

and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of 
every attempt to alienate any portion of our country 
from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now 
link together the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy 
and interest. Citizens by birth or choice of a common 
country, that country has a right to concentrate your 
affections. The name of American, which belongs to 
you in your national capacity, must always exalt the 
just pride of patriotism more than any appellation 
derived from local discriminations. With slight shades 
of difference, you have the same religion, manners, 
habits, and political principles. You have in a com- 
mon cause fought and triumphed together. The in- 
dependence and liberty you possess are the work of 
joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, 
sufferings, and successes. 

But these considerations, however powerfully they 
address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly out- 
weighed by those which apply more immediately to 
your interest. Here every portion of our country finds 
the most commanding motives for carefully guarding 
and preserving the union of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the 
South, protected by the equal laws of a common govern- 
ment, finds in the productions of the latter great addi- 
tional resources of maritime and commercial enter- 
prise and precious materials of manufacturing indus- 
try. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting 
by the same agency of the North, sees its agriculture 
grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into 



96 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its 
particular navigation invigorated; and while it con- 
tributes in different ways to nourish and increase the 
general mass of the national navigation, it looks for- 
ward to the protection of a maritime strength to which 
itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like inter- 
course with the West, already finds, and in the pro- 
gressive improvement of interior communications by 
land and water will more and more find, a valuable 
vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad 
or manufactures at home. The West derives from the 
East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and 
what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must 
of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable 
outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, 
and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side 
of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community 
of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which 
the West can hold this essential advantage, whether 
derived from its own separate strength or from an 
apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign 
power, must be intrincically precarious. 

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an 
immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts 
combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of 
means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, 
proportionably greater security from external danger, 
a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign 
nations, and what is of inestimable value, they must 
derive from union and exemption from those broils 
and wars between themselves which so frequently 



Washington's farewell address 97 

afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the 
same governments, which their own rivalships alone 
would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite 
foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would 
stimulate and imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will 
avoid the necessity of those overgrown military es- 
tablishments which, under any form of government, 
are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be re- 
garded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. 
In this sense it is that your union ought to be consid- 
ered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love 
of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of 
the other. 

These considerations speak a -persuasive language to 
every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the 
continuance of the union as a primary object of patri- 
otic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common gov- 
ernment can embrace so large a sphere.'* Let ex- 
perience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in 
such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope 
that a proper organization of the whole, with the 
auxiliary agency of governments for the respective 
subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experi- 
ment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. 
With such powerful and obvious motives to union af- 
fecting all parts of our country, while experience shall 
not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will 
always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those 
who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands. 

To the efficacy and permanency of your union a 



98 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

government for the whole is indispensable. No alli- 
ances, however strict, between the parts can be an 
adequate substitute. They must inevitably experience 
the infractions and interruptions which all alliances 
in all times have experienced. Sensible of this moment- 
ous truth, you have improved upon your first essay by 
the adoption of a constitution of government better 
calculated then your former for an intimate union and 
for the efficacious management of your common con- 
cerns. This government, the offspring of our own 
choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full 
investigation and mature deliberation, completely 
free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, 
uniting security with energy, and containing within 
itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just 
claim to your confidence and your support. Respect 
for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence 
in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental 
maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political 
systems is the right of the people to make and to 
alter their constitutions of government. But the 
constitution which at any time exists till changed by 
an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is 
sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the 
power and the right of the people to establish govern- 
ment presupposes the duty of every individual to 
obey the established government. 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all 
combinations and associations, under whatever plausi- 
ble character, with the real design to direct, control, 
counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action 



Washington's farewell address 99 

of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this 
fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. They 
serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and 
extraordinary force; to put in the place of the dele- 
gated will of the nation the will of a party, often a 
small but artful and enterprising minority of the com- 
munity, and, according to the alternate triumphs of 
different parties, to make the public administration 
the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous pro- 
jects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and 
wholesome plans, digested by common counsels and 
modified by mutual interests. 

However combinations or associations of the above 
description may now and then answer popular ends, 
they are likely in the course of time and things to be- 
come potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and 
unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power 
of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of 
government, destroying afterwards the very engines 
which have lifted them to unjust dominion. 

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. 
Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and 
morality enjoin this conduct. And can it be that good 
policy does not equally enjoin it.? It will be worthy 
of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period a great 
nation to give to mankind the magnanimous and too 
novel example of a people always guided by an exalted 
justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that in the 
course of time and things the fruits of such a plan 
would richly repay any temporary advantages which 



100 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be 
that Providence has not connected the permanent 
fehcity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, 
at least, is recommended by every sentiment which 
ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impos- 
sible by its vices? 

In the execution of such a plan nothing is more 
essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies 
against particular nations and passionate attach- 
ments for others should be excluded, and that in place 
of them just and amicable feelings toward all should 
be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward 
another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness 
is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity, 
or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead 
it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in 
one nation against another disposes each more readily 
to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes 
of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when 
accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. 

Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, 
and bloody contests. The nation prompted by ill will 
and resentment sometimes impels to war the govern- 
ment contrary to the best calculations of policy. The 
government sometimes participates in the national 
propensity, and adopts through passion what reason 
would reject. At other times it makes the animosity 
of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, in- 
stigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and 
pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes per- 
haps the liberty, of nations has been the victim. 



Washington's farewell address 101 

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation 
for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy 
for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an 
imaginary common interest in cases where no real 
common interest exists, and infusing into one the 
enmities of the other, betrays the former into a partici- 
pation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without 
adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to 
concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied 
to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation 
making the concessions by unnecessarily parting with 
what ought to have been retained, and by exciting 
jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate in the 
parties from whom equal privileges are withheld; 
and it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citi- 
zens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) 
facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own 
country without odium, sometimes even with popu- 
larity, gilding with the appearances of a virtuous 
sense of obligation, a commendable deference for pub- 
lic opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good the base 
or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or 
infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable 
ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to 
the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How 
many opportunities do they afford to tamper with 
domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, 
to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the pub- 
lic councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak 
toward a great and powerful nation dooms the former 

AMERICA FIRST 7. 



102 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

to be the satellite of the latter. Against the insidious 
wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, 
fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to 
be constantly awake, since history and experience prove 
that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes 
of republican government. But that jealousy, to be 
useful, must be impartial, else it becomes the instru- 
ment of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a 
defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign 
nation and excessive dislike of another cause those 
whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and 
serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on 
the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues 
of the favorite are liable to become suspected and 
odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause 
and confidence of the people to surrender their interests. 

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign 
nations is, in extending our commercial relations to 
have with them as little political connection as possi- 
ble. So far as we have already formed engagements 
let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here 
let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests which to us 
have none or a very remote relation. Hence she must 
be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of 
which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, 
therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate our- 
selves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of 
her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions 
of her friendships or enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and en- 



Washington's farewell address 103 

ables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one 
people, under an efficient government, the period is 
not far off when we may defy material injury from 
external annoyance; when we may take such an 
attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any 
time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when 
belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making 
acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giv- 
ing us provocation; when we may choose peace or 
war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situa- 
tion? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? 
Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any 
part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in 
the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, 
humor, or caprice? 



WASHINGTON 

Address by John W. Daniel, lawyer, statesman. United States senator 
from Virginia, delivered in the hall of the House of Representatives, Wash- 
ington, D. C, at the dedication of the Washington National Monument, 
February 21, 1885, Mr. Daniel being then a member of the House from Vir- 
ginia. He was introduced by Senator George F. Edmunds, of Vermont, 
president pro tempore of the Senate, who occupied the speaker's chair, and 
presided at the dedicatory exercises. 

Mr. President of the United States, Senators, 
Representatives, Judges, Mr. Chairman, and My 
Countrymen: — Alone in its grandeur stands forth the 
character of Washington in history; alone like some 
peak that has no fellow in the mountain range of 
greatness. 

"Washington," says Guizot, "Washington did the 
two greatest things which in politics it is permitted 
to man to attempt. He maintained by peace the in- 
dependence of his country, which he had conquered 
by war. He founded a free government in the name of 
principles of order and by re-establishing their sway." 

Washington did indeed do these things. But he did 
more. Out of disconnected fragments he molded a 
whole and made it a country. He achieved his coun- 
try's independence by the sword. He maintained that 
independence by peace as by war. He finally estab- 
lished both his country and its freedom in an endur- 
ing frame of constitutional government, fashioned to 
make Liberty and Union one and inseparable. These 
four things together constitute the unexampled achieve- 
ment of Washington. 

104 



WASHINGTON 105 

The world has ratified the profound remark of Fisher 
Ames, that "he changed mankind's ideas of poHtical 
greatness." It has approved the opinion of Edward 
Everett, that he was "the greatest of good men and 
the best of great men." It has felt for him, with 
Erskine, "an awful reverence." It has attested the 
declaration of Brougham, that "he was the greatest 
man of his own or of any age." It is matter of fact 
to-day, as when General Hamilton, announcing his 
death to the army, said, "The voice of praise would in 
vain endeavor to exalt a name unrivaled in the lists 
of true glory." America still proclaims him, as did 
Colonel Henry Lee, on the floor of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, the man "first in war, first in peace, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen." And from be- 
yond the sea the voice of Alfieri, breathing the soul 
of all lands and peoples, still pronounces the blessing, 
"Happy are you who have for the sublime and per- 
manent basis of your glory the love of country demon- 
strated by deeds." 

Ye who have unrolled the scrolls that tell the tale 
of the rise and fall of nations, before whose eyes has 
moved the panorama of man's struggles, achievements, 
and progression, find you anywhere the story of one 
whose life-work is more than a fragment of that which 
in his life is set before you.? Conquerors, who have 
stretched your scepters over boundless territories; 
founders of empire, who have held your dominions in 
reign of law; reformers, who have cried aloud in the 
wilderness of oppression; teachers, who have striven 
with reason to cast down false doctrine, heresy and 



106 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

schism; statesmen, whose brains have throbbed with 
mighty plans for the ameUoration of human society; 
scar-crowned Vikings of the sea, illustrious heroes of 
the land, who have borne the standards of siege and 
battle — come forth in bright array from your glorious 
fanes — and would ye be measured by the measure of 
his stature? Behold you not in him a more illustrious 
and more venerable presence? 

Statesman, Soldier, Patriot, Sage, Reformer of 
Creeds, Teacher of Truth and Justice, Achiever and 
Preserver of Liberty — the First of Men — Founder 
and Savior of his Country, Father of his People — this 
is HE, solitary and unapproachable in his grandeur. 
Oh! felicitous Providence that grve to America Our 
Washington! 

High soars into the sky to-d?,y — higher than the 
Pyramids or the dome of Sto Paul's or St. Peter's — the 
loftiest and most imposing structure that man has 
ever reared — high soars into the sky to where 

"Earth highest yearns to meet a star," 

the monument which "We the people of the United 
States" have erected to his memory. It is a fitting 
monument, more fitting than any statue. For his 
image could only display him in some one phase of his 
varied character — as the Commander, the Statesman, 
the Planter of Mount Vernon, or the Chief Magis- 
trate of his Country. So art has fitly typified his ex- 
alted life in yon plain lofty shaft. Such is his greatness, 
that only by a symbol could it be represented. As 
Justice must be blind in order to be whole in contem- 
plation, so History must be silent, that by this mighty 



WASHINGTON 107 

sign she may unfold the ampHtude of her story. 

In 1657, while yet "a Cromwell filled the Stuarts* 
throne," there came to Virginia with a party of Carlists 
who had rebelled against him John Washington, of 
Yorkshire, England, who became a magistrate and 
member of the House of Burgesses, and distinguished 
himself in Indian warfare as the first colonel of his 
family on this side of the water. He was the nephew 
of that Sir Henry Washington who had led the for- 
lorn hope of Prince Rupert at Bristol in 1643, and who, 
with a starving and mutinous garrison, had defended 
Worcester in 1649, answering all calls for surrender 
that he "awaited His Majesty's commands." 

And his progenitors had for centuries, running back 
to the conquest, been men of mark and fair renown. 
Pride and modesty of individuality alike forbid the 
seeking from any source of a borrowed lustre, and the 
Washingtons were never studious or pretentious of 
ancestral dignities. But "we are quotations from our 
ancestors," says the philosopher of Concord — and who 
will say that in the loyalty to conscience and to princi- 
ple, and to the right of self-determination of what is 
principle, that the Washingtons have ever shown, 
whether as loyalist or rebel, was not the germ of that 
deathless devotion to liberty and country which soon 
discarded all ancient forms in the mighty stroke for 
independence.'* 

One hundred and fifty -three years ago, on the banks 
of the Potomac, in the county of Westmoreland, on a 
spot marked now only by a memorial stone, of the blood 
of the people whom I have faintly described, fourth in 



108 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

descent from the Colonel John Washington whom I 
have named, there was born a son to Augustine and 
Mary Washington. And not many miles above his 
birthplace is the dwelling where he lived, and near 
which he now lies buried. 

Borne upon the bosom of that river which here mir- 
rors Capitol dome and monumental shaft in its sea- 
ward flow, the river itself seems to reverse its current 
and bear us silently into the past. Scarce has the vista 
of the city faded from our gaze when we behold on the 
woodland height that swells above the waters — amidst 
walks and groves and gardens — the white porch of that 
old colonial plantation home which has become the 
shrine of many a pilgrimage. Contrasting it as there 
it stands to-day with the marble halls which we have 
left behind us, we realize the truth of Emerson: "The 
atmosphere of moral sentiment is a region of grandeur 
which reduces all material magnificence to toys, yet 
opens to every wretch that has reason the doors of the 
Universe." 

The quaint old wooden mansion, with the stately 
but simple old-fashioned mahogany furniture, real and 
ungarnished; the swords and relics of campaigns and 
scenes familiar to every schoolboy now; the key of the 
Bastile hanging in the hall incased in glass, calling to 
mind Tom Paine's happy expression, "That the princi- 
ples of the American Revolution opened the Bastile 
is not to be doubted, therefore the key comes to the 
right place;" the black velvet coat worn when the 
farewell address to the Army was made; the rooms 
all in nicety of preparation as if expectant of the com- 



WASHINGTON 100 

ing host — we move among these memorials of days 
and men long vanished — we stand under the great 
trees and watch the solemn river, in its never-ceasing 
flow, we gaze upon the simple tomb whose silence is 
unbroken save by the low murmur of the waters or 
the wild bird's note, and we are enveloped in an atmos- 
phere of moral grandeur which no pageantry of mov- 
ing men nor splendid pile can generate. Nightly on the 
plain of Marathon — the Greeks have the tradition — 
there may yet be heard the neighing of chargers and the 
rushing shadows of spectral war. In the spell that 
broods over the sacred groves of Vernon, Patriotism, 
Honor, Courage, Justice, Virtue, Truth seem bodied 
forth, the only imperishable realities of man's being. 

There emerges from the shades the figure of a youth 
over whose cradle had hovered no star of destiny,, nor 
dandled a royal crown — an ingenious youth, and one 
who in his early days gave auguries of great powers. 
The boy whose strong arm could fling a stone across 
the Rappahannock; whose strong will could tame 
the most fiery horse; whose just spirit made him the 
umpire of his fellows; whose obedient heart bowed 
to a mother's yearning for her son and laid down the 
midshipman's warrant in the British Navy which an- 
swered his first ambitious dream; the student trans- 
cribing mathematical problems, accounts, and busi- 
ness forms, or listening to the soldiers and seamen of 
vessels in the river as they tell of "hair-breadth 'scapes 
by flood and field;" the early moralist in his thirteenth 
year compiling matured "Rules for behavior and con- 
versation;" the surveyor of sixteen, exploring the wil- 



110 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

derness for Lord Fairfax, sleeping on the ground, climb- 
ing mountains, swimming rivers, killing and cooking 
his own game, noting in his diary soils, minerals, and 
locations, and making maps which are models of nice 
and accurate draughtsmanship; the incipient soldier, 
studying tactics under Adjutant Muse, and taking 
lessons in broadsword fence from the old soldier of 
fortune, Jacob Van Braam; the major and adjutant- 
general of the Virginia frontier forces at nineteen: — 
we seem to see him yet as here he stood, a model of 
manly beauty in his youthful prime, a man in all that 
makes a man ere manhood's years have been fulfilled, 
standing on the threshold of a grand career, "hearing 
his days before him and the trumpet of his life." 

The scene changes. Out into the world of stern ad- 
venture he passes, taking as naturally to the field and 
the frontier as the eagle to the air. At the age of 
twenty-one he is riding from Williamsburg to the 
French post at Venango, in Western Pennsylvania, 
on a mission for Governor Dinwiddie, which requires 
"courage to cope with savages and sagacity to negotiate 
with white men" — on that mission which Edward 
Everett recognizes as "the first movement of a mili- 
tary nature which resulted in the establishment of 
American Independence." At twenty -two he has 
fleshed his maiden sword, has heard the bullets whistle, 
and found "something charming in the sound;" and 
soon he is colonel of the Virginia regiment in the un- 
fortunate affair at Fort Necessity, and is compelled to 
retreat after losing a sixth of his command. He quits 
the service on a point of military etiquette and honor, 



WASHINGTON 111 

but at twenty-three he reappears as volunteer aide by 
the side of Braddock in the ill-starred expedition 
against Fort Duquesne, and is the only mounted officer 
unscathed in the disaster, escaping with four bullets 
through his garments, and after having two horses shot 
under him. 

The prophetic eye of Samuel Davies has now pointed 
him out as "that heroic youth. Colonel Washington, 
whom I can but hope Providence has hitherto pre- 
served in so signal a manner for some important serv- 
ice to his country;" and soon the prophecy is fulfilled. 
The same year he is in command of the Virginia fron- 
tier forces. Arduous conflicts of varied fortunes are 
ere long ended, and on the 25th of November, 1759, 
he marches into the reduced fortress of Fort Duquesne 
—where Pittsburg now stands, and the Titans of In- 
dustry wage the eternal war of Toil — marches in with 
the advanced guard of his troops, and plants the Brit- 
ish flag over its smoking ruins. 

That self-same year Wolfe, another young and bril- 
liant soldier of Britain, has scaled and triumphed on 
the Heights of Abraham — his flame of valor quenched 
as it lit the blaze of victory; Canada surrenders; the 
Seven Years' War is done; the French power in 
America is broken, and the vast region west of the 
Alleghanies, from the lakes to the Ohio, embracing its 
valley and tributary streams, is under the scepter of 
King George. America has been made whole to the 
English-speaking race, to become in time the greater 
Britain. 

Thus, building wiser than he knew, Washington had 



WASHINGTON 113 

taken no small part in cherishing the seed of a nascent 
nation. 

Mount Vernon welcomes back the soldier of twenty- 
seven, who has become a name. Domestic felicity 
spreads its charms around him with the "agreeable 
partner" whom he has taken to his bosom, and he 
dreams of "more happiness than he has experienced 
in the wide and bustling world." 

Already, ere his sword had found its scabbard, the 
people of Frederick county had made him their mem- 
ber of the House of Burgesses. And the quiet years 
roll by as the planter, merchant, and representative 
superintends his plantation, ships his crops, posts his 
books, keeps his diary, chases the fox for amusement, 
or rides over to Annapolis and leads the dance at the 
Maryland capital — alternating between these private 
pursuits and serving his people as member of the Leg- 
islature and justice of the county court. 

But ere long this happy life is broken. The air is 
electric with the currents of revolution. England has 
launched forth on the fatal policy of taxing her colonies 
without their consent. The spirit of liberty and resist- 
ance is aroused. He is loth to part with the Mother 
Land, which he still calls "home." But she turns a 
deaf ear to reason. The first Colonial Congress is 
called. He is a delegate, and rides to Philadelphia with 
Henry and Pendleton. The blow at Lexington is 
struck. The people rush to arms. The sons of the 
Cavaliers spring to the side of the sons of the Pilgrims. 
"Unhappy it is," he says, "that a brother's sword has 
been sheathed in a brother's breast, and that the once 



ni AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

happy plains of America are to be either drenched in 
blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But 
how can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?" He 
becomes Commander-in-Chief of the American forces. 
After seven years' war he is the deliverer of his coun- 
try. The old Confederation passes away. The Con- 
stitution is established. He is twice chosen President, 
and will not consent longer to serve. 

Once again Mount Vernon's grateful shades receive 
him, and there — the world-crowned Hero now — he be- 
comes again the simple citizen, wishing for his fellow 
men "to see the whole world in peace and its inhabit- 
ants one band of brothers, striving who could contrib- 
ute most to the happiness of mankind" — without a 
wish for himself, but "to live and die an honest man on 
his farm." A speck of war spots the sky. John Adams, 
now president, calls him forth as lieutenant-general 
and commander-in-chief to lead America once more. 
But the cloud vanishes. Peace reigns. The lark sings 
at Heaven's gate in the fair morn of the new nation. 
Serene, contented, yet in the strength of manhood, 
though on the verge of threescore years and ten, he 
looks forth — the quiet farmer from his pleasant fields, 
the loving patriarch from the bowers of home — ^looks 
forth and sees the work of his hands established in a 
free and happy people. Suddenly comes the mortal 
stroke with severe cold. The agony is soon over. He 
feels his own dying pulse — the hand relaxes — he mur- 
murs, "It is well;" and Washington is no more. 

Washington, the friend of Liberty, is no more! 

The solemn cry filled the universe. Amidst the tears 



WASHINGTON 115 

of his people, the bowed heads of kings, and the lamen- 
tations of the nations, they laid him there to rest upon 
the banks of the river whose murmurs were his boy- 
hood's music — that river which, rising in mountain 
fastnesses amongst the grandest works of nature and 
reflecting in its course the proudest works of man, is a 
symbol of his history, which in its ceaseless and ever- 
widening flow is a symbol of his eternal fame. 

No sum could now be made of Washington's charac- 
ter that did not exhaust language of its tributes and 
repeat virtues by all her names. No sum could be made 
of his achievements that did not unfold the history of 
his country and its institutions — the history of his age 
and its progress — the history of man and his destiny 
to be free. But whether character or achievement be 
regarded, the riches before us only expose the poverty 
of praise. So clear was he in his great office that no 
ideal of the Leader or the Ruler can be formed that 
does not shrink by the side of the reality. And so has 
he impressed himself upon the minds of men, that no 
man can justly aspire to be the chief of a great free 
people who does not adopt his principles and emulate 
his example. We look with amazement on such ec- 
centric characters as Alexander, Caesar, Cromwell. 
Frederick, and Napoleon; but when the serene face 
of Washington rises before us mankind instinctively 
exclaims, "This is the Man for the nations to trust 
and reverence and for heroes and rulers to copy." 

Disinterested patriot, he would receive no pay for 
his military services. Refusing gifts, he was glad to 
guide the benefaction of a grateful state to educate the 



116 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

children of his fallen braves in the institution at Lex- 
ington which yet bears his name. Without any of the 
blemishes that mark the tyrant, he appealed so loftily 
to the virtuous elements in man that he almost created 
the qualities of which his country needed the exercise; 
and yet he was so magnanimous and forbearing to the 
weaknesses of others, that he often obliterated the 
vices of which he feared the consequence. But his 
virtue was more than this. It was of that daring, 
intrepid kind that, seizing principle with a giant's 
grasp, assumes responsibility at any hazard, suffers 
sacrifice without pretense of martyrdom, bears calumny 
without reply, imposes superior will and understanding 
on all around it, capitulates to no unworthy triumph, 
but must carry all things at the point of clear and 
blameless conscience. Scorning all manner of mean- 
ness and cowardice, his bursts of wrath at their ex- 
hibition heighten our admiration for those noble pas- 
sions which were kindled by the inspirations and 
exigencies of virtue. 

Great in action as by the council board, the finest 
horseman and knightliest figure of his time, he seemed 
designed by nature to lead in those bold strokes which 
needs must come when the battle lies with a single man 
— those critical moments of the campaign or the strife 
when, if the mind hesitates or a nerve flinches, all is 
lost. We can never forget the passage of the Delaware 
that black December night, amidst shrieking winds 
and great upheaving blocks of ice which would have 
petrified a leader of less hardy mold, and then the fell 
swoop at Trenton. We behold him as when at Mon- 



WASHINGTON 117 

mouth he turns back the retreating lines, and gallop- 
ing his white charger along the ranks until he falls, 
leaps on his Arabian bay, and shouts to his men: 
"Stand fast, my boys, the Southern troops are coming 
to support you!" And we hear Lafayette exclaim, 
"Never did I behold so superb a man!" We see him 
again at Princeton dashing through a storm of shot to 
rally the wavering troops; he reins his horse between 
the contending lines, and cries: "Will you leave your 
general to the foe?" then bolts into the thickest fray. 
Colonel Fitzgerald, his aid, drops his reins and pulls 
his hat down over his eyes that he may not see his 
chieftain fall, when, through the smoke he reappears 
waving his hat, cheering on his men, and shouting: 
"Away, dear Colonel, and bring up the troops; the 
day is ours.'' "Coeur de Lion" might have doffed his 
plume to such a chief, for a great knight was he, who 
met his foes full tilt in the shock of battle and hurled 
them down with an arm whose sword flamed with 
righteous indignation. 

As children pore over the pictures in their books 
where they can read the words annexed to them, so we 
linger with tingling blood by such inspiring scenes, 
while little do we reck of those dark hours when the 
aching head pondered the problems of a country's fate. 
And yet there is a greater theater in which Washing- 
ton appears, although not so often has its curtain been 
uplifted. 

For it was as a statesman that Washington was 
greatest. Not in the sense that Hamilton and Jeffer- 
son, Adams and Madison were statesmen; but in a 

AMERICA FIRST 8. 



118 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

larger sense. Men may marshal armies who cannot 
drill divisions. Men may marshal nations in storm 
and travail who have not the accomplishments of their 
cabinet ministers. Not so versed as they was he in the 
details of political science. And yet as he studied 
tactics when he anticipated war, so he studied politics 
when he saw his civil role approaching, reading the 
history and examining the principles of ancient and 
modern confederacies, and making notes of their vir- 
tues, defects, and methods of operation. 

His pen did not possess the facile play and classic 
grace of their pens, but his vigorous eloquence had the 
clear ring of our mother tongue. I will not say that he 
was so astute, so quick, so inventive as the one or 
another of them — ^that his mind was characterized by 
the vivacity of wit, the rich colorings of fancy, or dar- 
ing flights of imagination. But with him thought and 
action like well-trained coursers kept abreast in the 
chariot race, guided by an eye that never quailed, 
reined by a hand that never trembled. He had a more 
infallible discrimination of circumstances and men than 
any of his contemporaries. He weighed facts in a juster 
scale, with larger equity, and firmer equanimity. He 
best applied to them the lessons of experience. With 
greater ascendancy of character he held men to their 
appointed tasks; with more inspiring virtue he com- 
manded more implicit confidence. He bore a truer 
divining-rod, and through a wilderness of contention 
he alone was the unerring Pathfinder of the People. 
There can, indeed, be no right conception of Washing- 
ton that does not accord him a great and extraordinary 



WASHINGTON 119 

genius. I will not say he could have produced a play of 
Shakespeare, or a poem of Milton, handled with Kant 
the tangled skein of metaphysics, probed the secrecies 
of mind and matter with Bacon, constructed a railroad 
or an engine like Stephenson, wooed the electric spark 
from heaven to earth with Franklin, or walked with 
Newton the pathways of the spheres. But if his genius 
were of a different order, it was of as rare and high an 
order. It dealt with man in the concrete, with his vast 
concerns of business stretching over a continent and 
projected into the ages, with his seething passions; 
with his marvelous exertions of mind, body, and spirit 
to be free. He knew the materials he dealt with by 
intuitive perception of the heart of man, by experience 
and observation of his aspirations and his powers, by 
reflection upon his complex relations, rights, and 
duties as a social being. He knew just where, between 
men and states, to erect the monumental mark to 
divide just reverence for authority from just resistance 
to its abuse. A poet of social facts, he interpreted by 
his deeds the harmonies of justice. 

First to perceive, and swift to point out, the defects 
in the Articles of Confederation, they became manifest 
to all long before victory crowned the warfare con- 
ducted under them. Charged by them with the public 
defense, Congress could not put a soldier in the field; 
and charged with defraying expenses, it could not levy 
a dollar of imposts or taxes. It could, indeed, borrow 
money with the assent of nine states of the thirteen, 
but what mockery of finance was that, when the bor- 
rower could not command any resource of payment. 



120 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

The states had indeed put but a scepter of straw in 
the legislative hand of the Confederation — what won- 
der that it soon wore a crown of thorns! The paper 
currency ere long dissolved to nothingness; for four 
days the army was without food, and whole regi- 
ments drifted from the ranks of our hard-pressed 
defenders. "I see," said Washington, "one head 
gradually changing into thirteen; I see one army 
gradually branching into thirteen, which, instead of 
looking up to Congress as the supreme controlling 
power, are considering themselves as dependent upon 
their respective states." While yet his sword could 
not slumber, his busy pen was warning the statesmen 
of the country that unless Congress were invested 
with adequate powers, or should assume them as mat- 
ter of right, we should become but thirteen states, 
pursuing local interests, until annihilated in a general 
crash — the cause would be lost — and the fable of the 
bundle of sticks applied to us. 

In rapid succession his notes of alarm and invoca- 
tions for aid to Union followed each other to the lead- 
ing men of the states, North and South. Turning 
to his own state, and appealing to George Mason, 
"Where," he exclaimed, "where are our men of abili- 
ties? Why do they not come forth and save the coun- 
try?" He compared the affairs of this great continent 
to the mechanism of a clock, of which each state was 
putting its own small part in order, but neglecting 
the great wheel, or spring, which was to put the whole 
in motion. He summoned Jefferson, Wythe, and 
Pendleton to his assistance, telling them that the pres- 



WASHINGTON 121 

ent temper of the states was friendly to lasting union, 
that the moment should be improved and might never 
return, and that "after gloriously and successfully 
contending against the usurpation of Britain we may 
fall a prey to our own folly and disputes." 

How keen the prophet's ken, that through the smoke 
of war discerned the coming evil; how diligent the 
patriot's hand, that amidst awful responsibilities 
reached futureward to avert it! By almost a miracle 
the weak Confederation, "a barrel without a hoop," 
was held together perforce of outside pressure; and 
soon America was free. 

But not yet had beaten Britain concluded peace — 
not yet had dried the blood of Victory's field, ere 
"follies and disputes" confounded all things with their 
Babel tongues and intoxicated liberty gave loose to 
license. An unpaid army with unsheathed swords 
clamored around a poverty-stricken and helpless Con- 
gress. And grown at last impatient even with their 
chief, officers high in rank plotted insurrection and cir- 
culated an anonymous address, urging it "to appeal 
from the justice to the fears of government, and suspect 
the man who would advise to longer forbearance." 
Anarchy was about to erect the Arch of Triumph — 
poor, exhausted, bleeding, weeping America lay in 
agony upon her bed of laurels. 

Not a moment did Washington hesitate. He con- 
vened his officers, and going before them he read them 
an address, which, for homethrust argument, magnani- 
mous temper, and the eloquence of persuasion which 
leaves nothing to be added, is not exceeded by the 



122 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

noblest utterances of Greek or Roman. A nobler than 
Coriolanus was before them, who needed no mother's 
or wife's reproachful tears to turn the threatening 
steel from the gates of Rome. Pausing, as he read his 
speech, he put on his spectacles and said: "I have 
grown gray in your service, and now find myself grow- 
ing blind." This unaffected touch of nature completed 
the master's spell. The late fomenters of insurrection 
gathered to their chief with words of veneration — the 
storm went by — and, says Curtis in his History of the 
Constitution, "Had the Commander-in-Chief been 
other than Washington, the land would have been 
deluged with the blood of civil war." 

But not yet was Washington's work accomplished. 
Peace dawned upon the weary land, and parting with 
his soldiers, he pleaded with them for union. "Happy, 
thrice happy, shall they be pronounced," he said, 
"who have contributed anything in erecting this 
stupendous fabric of freedom and empire; who have 
assisted in protecting the rights of human nature, and 
establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of 
all nations and religions." But still the foundations of 
the stupendous fabric trembled, and no cement held 
its stones together. It was then, with that thickening 
peril, Washington rose to his highest stature. Without 
civil station to call forth his utterance, impelled bj^ the 
intrepid impulse of a soul that could not see the hope 
of a nation perish without leaping into the stream to 
save it, he addressed the whole People of America in a 
circular to the governors of the states: "Convinced 
of the importance of the crisis, silence in me," he said, 



WASHINGTON 12S 

"would be a crime. I will, therefore, speak the lan- 
guage of freedom and sincerity." He set forth the 
need of union in a strain that touched the quick of 
sensibility; he held up the citizens of America as sole 
lords of a vast tract of continent ; he portrayed the fair 
opportunity for political happiness with which Heaven 
had crowned them; he pointed out the blessings that 
would attend their collective wisdom; that mutual 
concessions and sacrifices must be made; and that 
supreme power must be lodged somewhere to regulate 
and govern the general concerns of the Confederate 
Republic, without which the Union would not be of 
long duration. And he urged that happiness would be 
ours if we seized the occasion and made it our own. 
In this, one of the very greatest acts of Washington, 
was revealed the heart of the man, the spirit of the 
hero, the wisdom of the sage — I might almost say the 
sacred inspiration of the prophet. 

But still the wing of the eagle drooped; the gather- 
ing storms baffled his sunward flight. Even with 
Washington in the van, the column wavered and 
halted — states straggling to the rear that had hitherto 
been foremost for permanent union, under an effica- 
cious constitution. And while three years rolled by 
amidst the jargon of sectional and local contentions, 
"the half -starved government," as Washington de- 
picted it, "limped along on crutches, tottering at every 
step." And while monarchical Europe with saturnine 
face declared that the American hope of union was 
the wild and visionary notion of romance, and pre- 
dicted that we would be to the end of time a disunited 



124 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

people, suspicious and distrustful of each other, divided 
and subdivided into petty commonwealths and prin- 
cipalities, lo! the very earth yawned under the feet 
of America, and in that very region whence had come 
forth a glorious band of orators, statesmen and soldiers 
to plead the cause and fight the battles of Independence 
— lo! the volcanic fires of rebellion burst forth upon 
the heads of the faithful, and the militia were leveling 
the guns of the Revolution, against the breasts of 
their brethren. "What, gracious God! is man?" 
Washington exclaimed: "It was but the other day 
that we were shedding our blood to obtain the con- 
stitutions under which we live, and now we are un- 
sheathing our swords to overturn them." 

But see! there is a ray of hope. Maryland and Vir- 
ginia had already entered into a commercial treaty 
for regulating the navigation of the rivers and great 
bay in which they had common interests, and W^ash- 
ington had been one of the commissioners in its nego- 
tiation. And now, at the suggestion of Maryland, 
Virginia had called on all the states to meet in con- 
vention at Annapolis, to adopt commercial regulations 
for the whole country. Could this foundation be laid, 
the eyes of the nation-builders foresaw that the per- 
manent structure would ere long rise upon it. But 
when the day of meeting came no state north of New 
York or south of Virginia was represented; and in their 
helplessness those assembled could only recommend a 
constitutional convention, to meet in Philadelphia in 
May, 1787, to provide for the exigencies of the situation. 

And still thick clouds and darkness rested on the 



WASHINGTON 125 

land, and there lowered upon its hopes a night as black 
as that upon the freezing Delaware; but through the 
gloom the dauntless leader was still marching on to the 
consummation of his colossal work, with a hope that 
never died; with a courage that never faltered; with 
a wisdom that never yielded that "all is vanity." 

It was not permitted the Roman to despair of the 
republic, nor did he — our chieftain. "It will all come 
right at last," he said. It did. And now let the histo- 
rian, Bancroft, speak: "From this state of despair the 
country was lifted by Madison and Virginia." Again 
he says: "We come now to a week more glorious for 
Virginia beyond any in her annals, or in the history of 
any republic that had ever before existed." 

It was that week in which Madison, "giving effect to 
his own long-cherished wishes, and still earlier wishes 
of Washington," addressing, as it were, the whole 
country, and marshaling all the states, warned them 
"that the crisis had arrived at which the people of 
America are to decide the solemn question, whether 
they would, by wise and magnanimous efforts reap 
the fruits of independence and of union, or whether 
by giving way to unmanly jealousies and prejudices, 
or to impartial and transitory interests, they would 
renounce the blessings prepared for them by the Revo- 
lution," and conjuring them "to concur in such further 
concessions and provisions as may be necessary to 
secure the objects for which that government was 
instituted, and make the United States as happy in 
peace as they had been glorious in war." 

In such manner, my countrymen, Virginia, adopt- 



126 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

ing the words of Madison, and moved by the constant 
spirit of Washington, joined in convoking that Con- 
stitutional Convention, in which he headed her dele- 
gation, and over which he presided, and whose delib- 
erations resulted in the formation and adoption of that 
instrument which the premier of Great Britain pro- 
nounces "the most wonderful work ever struck off at 
a given time by the brain and purpose of man." 

In such manner the state which gave birth to the 
Father of his Country, following his guiding genius to 
the Union, as it had followed his sword through the 
battles of Independence, placed herself at the head 
of the wavering column. In such manner America 
heard and barkened to the voice of her chief; and now 
closing ranks, and moving with reanimated step, the 
thirteen commonwealths wheeled and faced to the 
front, on the line of the Union, under the sacred en- 
sign of the Constitution. 

Thus at last was the crowning work of Washington 
accomplished. Out of the tempests of war, and the tu- 
mults of civil commotion, the ages bore their fruit, and 
the long yearning of humanity was answered. "Rome 
to America" is the eloquent inscription on one stone 
contributed to yon colossal shaft — taken from the 
ancient Temple of Peace that once stood hard by the 
palace of the Caesars. Uprisen from the sea of revo- 
lution, fabricated from the ruins of the battered Bas- 
tiles, and dismantled palaces of unhallowed power, 
stood forth now the Republic of republics, the Nation 
of nations, the Constitution, of constitutions, to which 
all lands and times and tongues had contributed of 



WASHINGTON 127 

their wisdom. And the priestess of Liberty was in her 
holy temple. 

When Salamis had been fought and Greece again 
kept free, each of the victorious generals voted him- 
self to be first in honor; but all agreed that Themis- 
tocles was second. When the most memorable strug- 
gle for the rights of human nature, of which time holds 
record, was thus happily concluded in the muniment 
of their preservation, whoever else was second, unani- 
mous acclaim declared that Washington was first. 
Nor in that struggle alone does he stand foremost. 
In the name of the people of the United States, their 
president, their senators, their representatives, and 
their judges, do crown to-day with the grandest crown 
that veneration has ever lifted to the brow of glory, 
him, whom Virginia gave to America, whom America 
has given to the world and to the ages, and whom man- 
kind with universal suffrage has proclaimed the fore- 
most of the founders of empire in the first degree of 
greatness; whom Liberty herself has anointed as the 
first citizen in the great Republic of Humanity. 

Encompassed by the inviolate seas stands to-day the 
American Republic which he founded — a freer Greater 
Britain — uplifted above the powers and principalities 
of the earth, even as his monument is uplifted over 
roof and dome and spire of the multitudinous city. 

Long live the Republic of Washington! Respected 
by mankind, beloved of all its sons, long may it be the 
asylum of the poor and oppressed of all lands and 
religions — long may it be the citadel of that liberty 
which writes beneath the eagle's folded wings, "We 



128 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

will sell to no man, we will deny to no man, Right and 
Justice." 

Long live the United States of America! Filled with 
the free, magnanimous spirit, crowned by the wisdom, 
blessed by the moderation, hovered over by the guard- 
ian angel of Washington's example; may they be ever 
worthy in all things to be defended by the blood of the 
brave who know the rights of man and shrink not from 
their assertion — may they be each a column, and al- 
together, under the Constitution, a perpetual Temple 
of Peace, unshadowed by a Caesar's palace, at whose 
altar may freely commune all who seek the union of 
Liberty and Brotherhood. 

Long live our Country ! Oh, long through the undy- 
ing ages may it stand, far removed in fact as in space 
from the Old World's feuds and follies, alone in its 
grandeur and its glory, itself the immortal monument 
of him whom Providence commissioned to teach man 
the power of Truth, and to prove to the nations that 
their Redeemer liveth. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Lecture by Henry Watterson, journalist and orator, editor of the Louis- 
ville, Ky., Courier Journal since 1868. This lecture was originally delivered 
before the Lincoln Club of Chicago, February 12, 1895, and subsequently 
repeated on many platforms as a lecture. It has been heard in all parts of 
the country, but nowhere, with livelier demonstrations of approval than in 
the cities of the South "from Richmond and Charleston to New Orleans 
and Galveston." 

The statesmen in knee breeches and powdered wigs 
who signed the Declaration of Independence and 
framed the Constitution — the soldiers in blue-and-buff, 
top-boots and epaulets who led the armies of the 
Revolution — were what we are wont to describe as 
gentlemen. They were English gentlemen. They 
were not all, nor even generally, scions of the British 
aristocracy ; but they came, for the most part, of good 
Anglo-Saxon and Scotch-Irish stock. 

The shoe buckle and the ruffled shirt worked a spell 
peculiarly their own. They carried with them an air of 
polish and authority. Hamilton, though of obscure 
birth and small stature, is represented by those who 
knew him to have been dignity and grace personified; 
and old Ben Franklin, even in woolen hose, and none 
too courtier-like, was the delight of the great nobles 
and fine ladies, in whose company he made himself as 
much at home as though he had been born a marquis. 

The first half of the Republic's first half century of 
existence the public men of America, distinguished 
for many things, were chiefly and almost universally 
distinguished for repose of bearing and sobriety of 

129 



130 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

behavior. It was not until the institution of African 
slavery had got into politics as a vital force that Con- 
gress became a bear-garden, and that our lawmakers, 
laying aside their manners with their small-clothes, 
fell into the loose-fitting habiliments of modern fashion 
and the slovenly jargon of partisan controversy. The 
gentlemen who signed the Declaration and framed the 
Constitution were succeeded by gentlemen — much 
like themselves — but these were succeeded by a race 
of party leaders much less decorous and much more 
self-confident; rugged, puissant; deeply moved in all 
that they said and did, and sometimes turbulent; so 
that finally, when the volcano burst forth flames that 
reached the heavens, great human boulders appeared 
amid the glare on every side; none of them much to 
speak of according to rules regnant at St. James and 
Versailles; but vigorous, able men, full of their mission 
and of themselves, and pulling for dear life in opposite 
directions. 

There were Seward and Sumner and Chase, Corwin 
and Ben Wade, Trumbull and Fessenden, Hale and 
Collamer and Grimes, and Wendell Phillips, and Hor- 
ace Greeley, our latter-day Franklin. There were 
Toombs and Hammond, and Slidell and Wigfall, and 
the two little giants, Douglas and Stephens, and Yan- 
cey and Mason, amd Jefferson Davis. With them soft 
words buttered no parsnips, and they cared little how 
many pitchers might be broken by rude ones. The 
issue between them did not require a diagram to ex- 
plain it. It was so simple a child might understand. 
It read, human slavery against human freedom, slave 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 131 

labor against free labor, and involved a conflict as in- 
evitable as it was irrepressible. 

Greek was meeting Greek at last; and the field of 
politics became almost as sulphurous and murky as 
an actual field of battle. Amid the noise and confusion, 
the clashing of intellects like sabers bright, and the 
booming of the big oratorical guns of the North and 
the South, now definitely arrayed, there came one day 
into the Northern camp one of the oddest figures im- 
aginable; the figure of a man who, in spite of an ap- 
pearance somewhat at outs with Hogarth's line of 
beauty, wore a serious aspect, if not an air of com- 
mand, and, pausing to utter a single sentence that 
might be heard above the din, passed on and for a 
moment disappeared. 

The sentence was pregnant with meaning. The 
man bore a commission from God on high ! He said : 
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I 
believe this Government cannot endure permanently 
half free and half slave. I do not expect the Union 
to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; 
but I do expect it will cease to be divided." He was 
Abraham Lincoln. 

How shall I describe him to you? Shall I do so as he 
appeared to me, when I first saw him immediately on 
his arrival in the national capital, the chosen president 
of the United States, his appearance quite as strange 
as the story of his life, which was then but half known 
and half told, or shall I use the words of another and a 
more graphic wordpainter.'^ 

In January, 1861, Colonel A. K. McClure, of Penn- 



132 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

sylvania, journeyed to Springfield, Illinois, to meet 
and confer with the man he had done so much to elect, 
but whom he had never personally known. "I went 
directly from the depot to Lincoln's house," says 
Colonel McClure, "and rang the bell, which was an- 
swered by Lincoln, himself, opening the door. I 
doubt whether I wholly concealed my disappointment 
at meeting him. Tall, gaunt, ungainly, ill-clad, with 
a homeliness of manner that was unique in itself, I 
confess that my heart sank within me as I remembered 
that this was the man chosen by a great nation to be- 
come its ruler in the gravest period of its history. I 
remember his dress as if it were but yesterday — snuff- 
colored and slouch}^ pantaloons; open black vest, held 
by a few brass buttons; straight or evening dress-coat, 
with tightly fitting sleeves to exaggerate his long, bony 
arms, all supplemented by an awkwardness that was 
uncommon among men of intelligence. Such was the 
picture I met in the person of Abraham Lincoln. We 
sat down in his plainly furnished parlor and were un- 
interrupted during the nearly four hours I remained 
with him, and little by little, as his earnestness, sin- 
cerity, and candor were developed in conversation, I 
forgot all the grotesque qualities which so confounded 
me when I first greeted him. Before half an hour 
had passed I learned not only to respect, but, indeed, 
to reverence the man." 

A graphic portrait, truly, and not unlike. I recall 
him, two months later, a little less uncouth, a little 
better dressed, but in singularity and in angularity 
much the same. All the world now takes an interest 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN 1861 



(133) 



AMERICA FIRST 9. 



134 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

in every detail that concerned him, or that relates 
to the weird tragedy of his life and death. 

And who was this peculiar being, destined in his 
mother's arms — for cradle he had none — so profoundly to 
affect the future of humankind? He has told us, him- 
self, in words so simple and unaffected, so idiomatic 
and direct, that we can neither misread them, nor im- 
prove upon them. Writing, in 1859, to one who had 
asked him for some biographic particulars, Abraham 
Lincoln said: — 

"I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, 
Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of 
undistinguished families — second families, perhaps I 
should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, 
was of a family of the name of Hanks. . . . My 
paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated 
from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky 
about 1781 or 1782, where, a year or two later, he was 
killed by the Indians, not in battle, but by stealth, 
when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest. 

"My father (Thomas Lincoln) at the death of his 
father was but six years of age. By the early death 
of his father, and the very narrow circumstances of 
his mother, he was, even in childhood, a wandering 
laboring boy, and grew up literally without education. 
He never did more in the way of writing than bung- 
lingly to write his own name. . . . He removed 
from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indi- 
ana, in my eighth year. ... It was a wild region, 
with manv bears and other animals still in the woods. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 135 

. . . There were some schools, so-called, but no 
qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond 
'readin', writin', and cipherin' to the rule of three.' 
If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened 
to sojourn in the neighborhood he was looked upon 
as a wizard. ... Of course, when I came of age 
I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, 
write, and cipher to the rule of three. But that was 
all. . . . The little advance I now have upon 
this store of education I have picked up from time to 
time under the pressure of necessity. 

'T was raised to farm work . . . till I was 
twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois — 
Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, . . . 
where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. 
Then came the Black Hawk war; and I was elected 
captain of a volunteer company, a success that gave 
me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went 
into the campaign — was elated — ran for the legisla- 
ture the same year (1832), and was beaten — the only 
time I ever have been beaten by the people. The next, 
and three succeeding biennial elections, I was elected 
to the Legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. 
During the legislative period I had studied law and 
removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was 
elected to the lower house of Congress. Was not a 
candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, inclu- 
sive, practised law more assiduously than ever before. 
Always a Whig in politics, and generally on the Whig 
electoral tickets, making active canvasses. I was los- 
ing interest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise aroused me again. 



136 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

"If any personal description of me is thought desir- 
able, it may be said that I am in height six feet four 
inches, nearly; lean in flesh, weighing on an average 
one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, 
with coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks 
or brands recollected." 

There is the whole story, told by himself, and brought 
down to the point where he became a figure of national 
importance. 

His political philosophy was expounded in four 
elaborate speeches; one delivered at Peoria, Illinois, 
the 16th of October, 1854; one at Springfield, Illinois, 
the 16th of June, 1858; one at Columbus, Ohio, the 
16th of September, 1859, and one the 27th of Febru- 
ary, 1860, at Cooper Institute, in the city of New 
York. Of course Mr. Lincoln made many speeches 
and very good speeches. But these four, progressive 
in character, contain the sum total of his creed touching 
the organic character of the Government and at the 
same time his party view of contemporary issues. 
They show him to have been an old-line Whig of the 
school of Henry Clay, with strong emancipation lean- 
ings; a thorough anti-slavery man, but never an 
extremist or an abolitionist. To the last he hewed to 
the line thus laid down. 

Two or three years ago I referred to Abraham Lin- 
coln — in a casual way — as one "inspired of God." I 
was taken to task for this and thrown upon my defense. 
Knowing less then than I know now of Mr. Lincoln, I 
confined myself to the superficial aspects of the case; 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 137 

to the career of a man who seemed to have lacked the 
opportunity to prepare himself for the great estate 
to which he had come, plucked as it were from obscur- 
ity by a caprice of fortune. 

Accepting the doctrine of inspiration as a law of the 
universe, I still stand to this belief; but I must qualify 
it as far as it conveys the idea that Mr. Lincoln was not 
as well equipped in actual knowledge of men and af- 
fairs as any of his contemporaries. Mr. Webster once 
said that he had been preparing to make his reply to 
Hayne for thirty years. Mr. Lincoln had been in un- 
conscious training for the presidency for thirty years. 
His maiden address as a candidate for the Legislature, 
issued at the ripe old age of twenty-three, closes with 
these words: "But if the good people in their wisdom 
shall see fit to keep me in the background, I have been 
too familiar with disappointment to be very much 
chagrined." The man who wrote that sentence, thirty 
years later wrote this sentence: "The mystic chords 
of memory, stretching from every battlefield and 
patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone 
all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of 
the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, 
by the angels of our better nature." Between those 
two sentences, joined by a kindred, somber thought, 
flowed a life-current — 

"Strong, without rage, without o'erflowing, full," 

pausing never for an instant; deepening whilst it ran, 
but nowise changing its course or its tones; always the 
same; calm; patient; affectionate; like one born 



138 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

to a destiny, and, as in a dream, feeling its resistless 
force. 

It is needful to a complete understanding of Mr. 
Lincoln's relation to the time and to his place in the 
political history of the country, that the student pe- 
ruse closely the four speeches to which I have called 
attention; they underlie all that passed in the famous 
debate with Douglas; all that their author said and 
did after he succeeded to the presidency. They stand 
to-day as masterpieces of popular oratory. But for 
our present purpose the debate with Douglas will suffice 
— the most extraordinary intellectual spectacle the 
annals of our party warfare afford. Lincoln entered 
the canvass unknown outside the state of Illinois. He 
closed it renowned from one end of the land to the 
other. 

In that great debate it was Titan against Titan ; and, 
perusing it after the lapse of forty years, the philosophic 
and impartial critic will conclude which got the better 
of it, Lincoln or Douglas, much according to his sympa- 
thy with the one or the other. Douglas, as I have said, 
had the disadvantage of riding an ebb tide. But Lin- 
coln encountered a disadvantage in riding a flood tide, 
which was flowing too fast for a man so conservative 
and so honest as he was. Thus there was not a little 
equivocation on both sides foreign to the nature of the 
two. Both wanted to be frank. Both thought they 
were being frank. But each was a little afraid of his 
own logic; each was a little afraid of his own following; 
and hence there was considerable hair-splitting, in- 
volving accusations that did not accuse and denials 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 139 

that did not deny. They were politicians, these two, 
as well as statesmen; they were politicians, and what 
they did not know about political campaigning was 
hardly worth knowing. Reverently, I take off my hat 
to both of them; and I turn down the page; I close 
the book and lay it on its shelf, with the inward ejacu- 
lation, "There were giants in those days." 

I am not undertaking to deliver an oral biography 
of Abraham Lincoln, and shall pass over the events 
which quickly led up to his nomination and election to 
the presidency in 1860. 

I met the newly elected president the afternoon of 
the day in the early morning of which he had arrived 
in Washington. It was a Saturday, I think. He came 
to the capitol under Mr. Seward's escort, and, among 
the rest, I was presented to him. His appearance did 
not impress me as fantastically as it had impressed 
Colonel McClure. I was more familiar with the West- 
ern type than Colonel McClure, and, whilst Mr. Lin- 
coln was certainly not an Adonis, even after prairie 
ideals, there was about him a dignity that commanded 
respect. 

I met him again the forenoon of the 4th of March in 
his apartment at Wiilard's Hotel as he was preparing to 
start to his inauguration, and was touched by his un- 
affected kindness; for I came with a matter requiring 
his immediate attention. He was entirely self-pos- 
sessed; no trace of nervousness; and very obliging. 
I accompanied the cortege that passed from the senate 
chamber to the east portico of the capitol, and, as Mr. 
Lincoln removed his hat to face the vast multitude in 



140 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

front and below, I extended my hand to receive it, but 
Judge Douglas, just beside me, reached over my out- 
stretched arm and took the hat, holding it throughout 
the delivery of the inaugural address. I stood near 
enough to the speaker's elbow not to obstruct any 
gestures he might make, though he made but few; and 
then it was that I began to comprehend something of 
the power of the man. 

He delivered that inaugural address as if he had been 
delivering inaugural addresses all his life. Firm, reso- 
nant, earnest, it announced the coming of a man; of a 
leader of men; and in its ringing tones and elevated 
style, the gentlemen he had invited to become members 
of his political family — each of whom thought him- 
self a bigger man than his master — might have heard 
the voice and seen the hand of a man born to command. 
Whether they did or not, they very soon ascertained 
the fact. From the hour Abraham Lincoln crossed the 
threshold of the White House to the hour he went 
thence to his death, there was not a moment when he 
did not dominate the political and military situation 
and all his official surbordinates. 

Always courteous, always tolerant, always making 
allowance, yet always explicit, his was the master- 
spirit, his the guiding hand; committing to each of the 
members of his cabinet the details of the work of his 
own department; caring nothing for petty sovereignty; 
but reserving to himself all that related to great poli- 
cies, the starting of moral forces and the moving of 
organized ideas. 

I want to say just here a few words about Mr. Lin- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 141 

coin's relation to the South and the people of the 

South. 

He was, himself, a Southern man. He and all his 
tribe were Southerners. Although he left Kentucky 
when but a child, he was an old child; he never was 
very young; and he grew to manhood in a Kentucky 
colony; for what was Illinois in those days but a Ken- 
tucky colony, grown since somewhat out of propor- 
tion? He was in no sense what we in the South used 
to call "a poor white." Awkward, perhaps; ungainly, 
perhaps, but aspiring; the spirit of a hero beneath 
that rugged exterior; the soul of a prose poet behind 
those heavy brows; the courage of a lion back of those 
patient, kindly aspects; and, long before he was of 
legal age, a leader. His first love was a Rutledge; his 
wife was a Todd. Let the romancist tell the story of 
his romance. I dare not. No sadder idyl can be found 
in all the short and simple annals of the poor. 

We know that he was a prose poet; for have we not 
that immortal prose poem recited at Gettysburg? 
We know that he was a statesman; for has not time 
vindicated his conclusions? But the South does not 
know, except as a kind of hearsay, that he was a friend; 
the one friend who had the power and the will to save 
it from itself. He was the one man in public life who 
could have come to the head of affairs in 1861 bring- 
ing 'with him none of the embittered resentments grow- 
ing out of the anti-slavery battle. Whilst Seward, 
Chase, Sumner and the rest had been engaged in hand- 
to-hand combat with the Southern leaders at Wash- 
ington, Lincoln, a philosopher and a statesman, had 



142 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

been observing the course of events from afar, and like 
a philosopher and a statesman. The direst blow that 
could have been laid upon the prostrate South was 
delivered by the assassin's bullet that struck him down. 

But I digress. Throughout the contention that pre- 
ceded the war, amid the passions that attended the war 
itself, not one bitter, proscriptive word escaped the 
lips of Abraham Lincoln, whilst there was hardly a 
day that he was not projecting his great personality 
between some Southern man or woman and danger. 

Under the date of February 2, 1848, and from the 
hall of the House of Representatives at Washington, 
whilst he was serving as a member of Congress, I find 
this short note to his law partner at Springfield: — 

"Dear William: I take up my pen to tell you that 
Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, a little, slim, pale-faced, 
consumptive man, with a voice like Logan's (that was 
Stephen T., not John A.), has just concluded the very 
best speech of an hour's length I ever heard. My old, 
withered, dry eyes (he was then not quite thirty-seven 
years of age) are full of tears yet." 

From that time forward he never ceased to love 
Stephens, of Georgia. 

After that famous Hampton Roads conference, when 
the Confederate commissioners, Stephens, Campbell, 
and Hunter, had traversed the field of oflBcial routine 
with Mr. Lmcoln, the president, and Mr. Seward, the 
secretary of state, Lincoln, the friend, still the old 
Whig colleague, though one was now president of the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 143 

United States and the other vice-president of the 
Southern Confederacy, took the "sHm, pale-faced, 
consumptive man" aside, and, pointing to a sheet of 
paper he held in his hand, said: "Stephens, let me 
write 'Union' at the top of that page, and you may 
write below it whatever else you please." 

In the preceding conversation Mr. Lincoln had inti- 
mated that payment for the slaves was not outside a 
possible agreement for reunion and peace. He based 
that statement upon a plan he already had in hand, to 
appropriate four hundred millions of dollars to this 
purpose. 

There are those who have put themselves to the pains 
of challenging this statement of mine. It admits of no 
possible equivocation. Mr. Lincoln carried with him 
to Fortress Monroe two documents that still stand in 
his own handwriting; one of them a joint resolution 
to be passed by the two houses of Congress appropri- 
ating the four hundred millions, the other a proclama- 
tion to be issued by himself, as president, when the 
joint resolution had been passed. These formed no 
part of the discussion at Hampton Roads, because Mr. 
Stephens told Mr. Lincoln they were limited to treat- 
ing upon the basis of the recognition of the Confed- 
eracy, and to all intents and purposes the conference 
died before it was actually born. But Mr. Lincoln 
was so filled with the idea that next day, when he had 
returned to Washington, he submitted the two docu- 
ments to the members of his cabinet. Excepting Mr. 
Seward, they were all against him. He said: "Why, 
gentlemen, how long is the war going to last? It is not 



144 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

going to end this side of a hundred days, is it? It is 
costing us four milHons a day. There are the four hun- 
dred milHons, not counting the loss of Hfe and property 
in the meantime. But you are all against me, and 1 
will not press the matter upon you." I have not cited 
this fact of history to attack, or even to criticise, the 
policy of the Confederate Government, but simply to 
illustrate the wise magnanimity and justice of the 
character of Abraham Lincoln. For my part I rejoice 
that the war did not end at Fortress Monroe — or any 
other conference — but that it was fought out to its 
bitter and logical conclusion at Appomattox. 

It was the will of God that there should be, as God's 
own prophet had promised, "a new birth of freedom," 
and this could only be reached by the obliteration of the 
very idea of slavery. God struck Lincoln down in the 
moment of his triumph, to attain it; He blighted the 
South to attain it. But He did attain it. And here 
we are this night to attest it. God's will be done on 
earth as it is done in Heaven. But let no Southern man 
point finger at me because I canonize Abraham Lin- 
coln, for he was the one friend we had at court when 
friends were most in need; he was the one man in 
power who wanted to preserve us intact, to save us 
from the wolves of passion and plunder that stood at 
our door; and as that God, of whom it has been said 
that "whom He loveth He chasteneth," meant that 
the South should be chastened, Lincoln was put out 
of the way by the bullet of an assassin, having neither 
lot nor parcel, North or South, but a winged emissary 
of fate, flown from the shadows of the mystic world. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 145 

which yEschylus and Shakespeare created and conse- 
crated to tragedy ! 

I sometimes wonder shall we ever attain a journal- 
ism sufficiently upright in its treatment of current 
events to publish fully and fairly the utterances of our 
public men, and, except in cases of provable dishonor, 
to leave their motives and their personalities alone? 

Reading just what Abraham Lincoln did say and did 
do, it is inconceivable how such a man could have 
aroused antagonism so bitter and abuse so savage, to 
fall at last by the hand of an assassin. 

We boast our superior civilization and our enlight- 
ened freedom of speech; and yet, how few of us — 
when a strange voice begins to utter unfamiliar or un- 
palatable things — ^how few of us stop and ask ourselves, 
may not this man be speaking the truth after all? It 
is so easy to call names. It is so easy to impugn mo- 
tives. It is so easy to misrepresent opinions we can- 
not answer. From the least to the greatest what 
creatures we are of party spirit, and yet, for the most 
part, how small its aims, how imperfect its instru- 
ments, how disappointing its conclusions ! 

One thinks now that the world in which Abraham 
Lincoln lived might have dealt more gently by such a 
man. He was himself so gentle — so upright in nature 
and so broad of mind — so sunny and so tolerant in 
temper — so simple and so unaffected in bearing — a 
rude exterior covering an undaunted spirit, proving 
by his every act and word that — 

"The bravest are the tenderest. 
The loving are the daring." 



146 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

Though he was a party leader, he was a typical and 
patriotic American, in whom even his enemies might 
have found something to respect and admire. But 
it could not be so. He committed one grievous offense; 
he dared to think and he was not afraid to speak; he 
was far in advance of his party and his time; and men 
are slow to forgive what they do not readily under- 
stand. 

Yet, all the while that the waves of passion were 
dashing over his sturdy figure, reared above the dead- 
level, as a lone oak upon a sandy beach, not one harsh 
word rankled in his heart to sour the milk of human 
kindness that, like a perennial spring from the gnarled 
roots of some majestic tree, flowed within him. He 
would smooth over a rough place in his official inter- 
course with a funny story fitting the case in point, and 
they called him a trifler. He would round off a logical 
argument with a familiar example, hitting the nail 
squarely on the head and driving it home, and they 
called him a buffoon. Big wigs and little wigs were 
agreed that he lowered the dignity of debate; as if 
debates were intended to mystify, and not to clarify 
truth. Yet he went on and on, and never backward, 
until his time was come, when his genius, fully devel- 
oped, rose to the great exigencies intrusted to his hands. 
Where did he get his style.'' Ask Shakespeare and Burns 
where they got their style. Where did he get his grasp 
upon affairs and his knowledge of men? Ask the Lord 
God who created miracles in Luther and Bonaparte! 

What was the mysterious power of this mysterious 
man, and whence? 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 147 

His was the genius of common sense; of common 
sense in action; of common sense in thought; of com- 
mon sense enriched by experience and unhindered by 
fear. "He was a common man," says his friend Joshua 
Speed, "expanded into giant proportions; well ac- 
quainted with the people, he placed his hand on the 
beating pulse of the nation, judged of its disease, and 
was ready with a remedy." Inspired he was truly, as 
Shakespeare was inspired; as Mozart was inspired; 
as Burns was inspired; each, like him, sprung directly 
from the people. 

I look into the crystal globe that, slowly turning, 
tells the story of his life, and I see a little heart-broken 
boy, weeping by the outstretched form of a dead 
mother, then bravely, nobly trudging a hundred miles 
to obtain her Christian burial. I see this motherless 
lad growing to manhood amid the scenes that seem to 
lead to nothing but abasement; no teachers; no books; 
no chart, except his own untutored mind; no compass, 
except his own undisciplined will; no light, save light 
from Heaven; yet, like the caravel of Columbus, 
struggling on and on through the trough of the sea, 
always toward the destined land. I see the full-grown 
man, stalwart and brave, an athlete in activity of 
movement and strength of limb, yet vexed by weird 
dreams and visions; of life, of love, of religion, some- 
times verging on despair. I see the mind, grown as 
robust as the body, throw off these phantoms of the 
imagination and give itself wholly to the work-a-day 
uses of the world; the rearing of children; the earning 
of bread; the multiplied duties of life. I see the party 



148 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

leader, self-confident in conscious rectitude; original, 
because it was not his nature to follow; potent, be- 
cause he was fearless, pursuing his convictions with 
earnest zeal, and urging them upon his fellows with the 
resources of an oratory which was hardly more im- 
pressive than it was many-sided. I see him, the pre- 
ferred among his fellows, ascend the eminence reserved 
for him, and him alone of all the statesmen of the time, 
amid the derision of opponents and the distrust of 
supporters, yet unawed and unmoved, because thor- 
oughly equipped to meet the emergency. The same 
being, from first to last; the poor child weeping over 
a dead mother; the great chief sobbing amid the cruel 
horrors of war; flinching not from duty, nor changing 
his life-long ways of dealing with the stern realities 
which pressed upon him and hurried him onward. And, 
last scene of all, that ends this strange, eventful his- 
tory, I see him lying dead there in the capitol of the 
nation, to which he had rendered "the last, full meas- 
ure of his devotion," the flag of his country ground 
him, the world in mourning, and, asking myself how 
could any man have hated that man, I ask you, how 
can any man refuse his homage to his memory? Surely, 
he was one of God's elect; not in any sense a creature 
of circumstance, or accident. Recurring to the doc- 
trine of inspiration, I say again and again, he was in- 
spired of God, and I cannot see how any one who be- 
lieves in that doctrine can regard him as anything else. 
From Caesar to Bismarck and Gladstone the world 
has had its statesmen and its soldiers— men who rose 
to eminence and power step l>y step, through a series 
of geometric progression as it were, each advancement 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 149 

following in regular order one after the other, the whole 
obedient to well-established and well-understood laws 
of cause and effect. They were not what we call "men 
of destiny." They were "men of the time." They 
were men whose careers had a beginning, a middle 
and an end, rounding off lives with histories, full it 
may be of interesting and exciting event, but compre- 
hensive and comprehensible; simple, clear, complete. 

The inspired ones are fewer. Whence their emana- 
tion, where and how they got their power, by what rule 
they lived, moved and had their being, we know not. 
There is no explication to their lives. They rose from 
shadow and they went in mist. We see them, feel them, 
but we know them not. They came, God's word upon 
their lips; they did their office, God's mantle about 
them; and they vanished, God's holy light between 
the world and them, leaving behind a memory, half 
mortal and half myth. From first to last they were 
the creations of some special Providence, baffling the 
wit of man to fathom, defeating the machinations of 
the world, the flesh and the devil, until their work was 
done, then passing from the scene as mysteriously as 
they had come upon it. 

Tried by this standard, where shall we find an ex- 
ample so impressive as Abraham Lincoln, whose career 
might be chanted by a Greek chorus as at once the pre- 
lude and the epilogue of the most imperial theme of 
modern times? 

Born as lowly as the Son of God, in a hovel; reared 
in penury, .squalor, with no gleam of light or fair sur- 
rounding; without graces, actual or acquired; with- 

AMERK A FIRST 10. 



150 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

out name or fame or official training; it was reserved 
for this strange being, late in life, to be snatched from 
obscurity, raised to supreme command at a supreme 
moment, and intrusted with the destiny of a nation. 

The great leaders of his party, the most experienced 
and accomplished public men of the day, were made to 
stand aside; were sent to the rear, whilst this fantastic 
figure was led by unseen hands to the front and given 
the reins of power. It is immaterial whether we were 
for him, or against him; wholly immaterial. That, 
during four years, carrying with them such a weight of 
responsibility as the world never witnessed before, he 
filled the vast space allotted him in the eyes and actions 
of mankind, is to say that he was inspired of God, for 
nowhere else could he have acquired the wisdom and 
the virtue. 

Where did Shakespeare get his genius.'' Where did 
Mozart get his music.'' Whose hand smote the lyre of 
the Scottish plowman, and stayed the life of the Ger- 
man priest.'' God, God, and God alone; and as surely 
as these were raised up by God, inspired by God, was 
Abraham Lincoln; and a thousand years hence, no 
drama, no tragedy, no epic poem will be filled with 
greater wonder, or be followed by mankind with deeper 
feeling than that which tells the story of his life and 
death. 



SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

Delivered by Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865, on the occasion of his 
second inauguration as president of the United States. 

Fellow Countrymen : — At this second appearing to 
take the oath of the presidential office, there is less oc- 
casion for an extended address than there was at the 
first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a course 
to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the 
expiration of four years, during which public declara- 
tions have been constantly called forth on every point 
and phase of the great contest, which still absorbs the 
attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, 
little that is new could be presented. The progress of 
our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well 
known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, 
reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With 
high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is 
ventured. 

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago 
all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending 
civil war. All dreaded it — all sought to avert it. While 
the inaugural address was being delivered from this 
place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without 
war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to de- 
stroy it without war — seeking to dissolve the Union, 
and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties dep- 
recated war; but one of them would make war rather 
than let the nation survive; and the other would ac- 
cept war rather than let it perish. And the war came. 

151 



152 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

One-eighth of the whole population were colored 
slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but 
localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves con- 
stituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew 
that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. 
To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was 
the object for which insurgents would rend the Union, 
even by war; while the government claimed no right 
to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement 
of it. 

Neither party expected for the war the magnitude 
or the duration which it has already attained. Neither 
anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease 
with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. 
Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less 
fundamental and astounding. Both read the same 
Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes 
his aid against the other. It may seem strange that 
any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in 
wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's 
faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. 
The prayers of both could not be answered — that of 
neither has been answered fully. 

The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the 
world because of offenses! for it must needs be that 
offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the of- 
fense Cometh." If we shall suppose that American 
slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence 
of God, must needs come, but which, having con- 
tinued through his appointed time, he now wills to 
remove, and that he gives to both North and South 



SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 15S 

tliis terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the 
offense came, shall we discern therein any departure 
from those divine attributes which the believers in a 
living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope — 
fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war 
may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it con- 
tinue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two 
hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, 
and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall 
be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 
three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The 
judgments of the Lord are true and righteous alto- 
gether." 

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with 
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, 
let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up 
the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have 
borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan — 
to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and 
lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. 



ROBERT E LEE 

The following extracts are taken from the great lecture* of E. Benjamin 
Andrews on "Robert E. Lee." Dr. Andrews was president of Brown 
University 1889-1898, superintendent of the Public Schools of Chicago 
1898-1900, chancellor of the University of Nebraska 1900-1908, and 
since 1909 has been chancellor emeritus of that institution. He served 
as a private, and later as second lieutenant in the Union army during 
the Civil War. He was wounded at Petersburg, losing an eye. Probably 
no better characterization or higher tribute has ever been made of Robert 
E. Lee than that by Dr. Andrews in this lecture which was as enthusias- 
tically received by the Union veterans of the North as by the Confederate 
veterans of the South; for, as Dr. Andrews says in his tribute to Lee, 
"None are prouder of his record than tho.se who fought against him, who 
while recognizing the purity of his motive, thought him in error in going 
from under the stars and stripes." 

Robert Edward Lee had perhaps a more illustrious 
traceable lineage than any American not of his family. 
His ancestor, Lionel Lee, crossed the English Channel 
with William the Conqueror. Another scion of the 
clan fought beside Richard the Lion-hearted at Acre 
in the Third Crusade. To Richard Lee, the great 
land-owner on Northern Neck, the Virginia Colony 
was much indebted for royal recognition. His grand- 
son, Henry Lee, was the grandfather of "Light-horse 
Harry" Lee of Revolutionary fame, who was the 
father of Robert Edward Lee. 

Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807, in 
Westmoreland County, Va., the same county that 

* This lecture is found in full in Vol. XII (1915 Edition) of "Beacon 
Lights of History," copyright 190£ by the publishers. Fords, Howard 
& Hulbert, and is here used by special permission of Dr. Andrews and 
his publishers. 

15-i 



ROBERT E. LEE 155 

gave to the world George Washington and James 
Monroe. Though he was fatherless at eleven, the 
father's blood in him inclined him to the profession 
of arms, and when eighteen, — in 1825, — on an ap- 
pointment obtained for him by General Andrew 
Jackson, he entered the Military Academy at West 
Point. He graduated in 1829, being second in rank 
in a class of forty-six. Among his classmates were 
two men whom one delights to name with him — 
Ormsby M. Mitchell, later a general in the Federal 
army, and Joseph E. Johnston, the famous Confederate. 
Lee was at once made Lieutenant of Engineers, but, 
till the Mexican War, attained only a captaincy. 
This was conferred on him in 1838. 

In 1831 Lee had been married to Miss Mary Ran- 
dolph Custis, the grand daughter of Mrs. George 
Washington. By this marriage he became possessor 
of the beautiful estate at Arlington, opposite Wash- 
ington, his home till the Civil War. The union, 
blessed by seven children, was in all respects most 
happy. 

In his prime Lee was spoken of as the handsomest 
man in the army. He was about six feet high, per- 
fectly built, healthy, fond of outdoor life, enthusiastic 
in his profession, gentle, dignified, studious, broad- 
minded, and positively, though unobtrusively, re- 
ligious. If he had faults, which those nearest him 
doubted, they were excess of modesty and excess of 
tenderness. 

During the Mexican War, Captain Lee directed all 
the most important engineering operations of the 



156 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

American army — a work vital to its wonderful suc- 
cess. Already at the siege of Vera Cruz, General 
Scott mentioned him as having "greatly distinguished 
himself." He was prominent in all the operations 
thence to Cerro Gordo, where, in April, 1847, he was 
brevetted major. Both at Contreras and at Churu- 
busco he was credited with gallant and meritorious 
services. At the charge up Chapultepec, in which 
Joseph E. Johnston, George B. McClellan, George 
E. Pickett, and Thomas J. Jackson participated, Lee 
bore Scott's orders to all points until from loss of 
blood by a wound, and from the loss of two nights' 
sleep at the batteries, he actually fainted away in 
the discharge of his duty. Such ability and devotion 
brought him home from Mexico bearing the brevet 
rank of colonel. General Scott had learned to think 
of him as "the greatest military genius in America." 

In 1852 Lee was made superintendent of the West 
Point Military Academy. In 1855 he was com- 
missioned lieutenant-colonel of Col. Albert Sidney 
Johnston's new cavalry regiment, just raised to serve 
in Texas. March, 1861, saw him colonel of the 
First United States Cavalry. With the possible 
exception of the two Johnstons, he was now the most 
promising candidate for General Scott's position 
whenever that venerable hero vacated it, as he was 
sure to do soon. 

Lee was a Virginian, and Virginia, about to secede 
and at length seceding, in most earnest tones besought 
her distinguished son to join her. It seemed to him 
the call of duty, and that call, as he understood it, 



ROBERT E. LEE 157 

was one which it was not in him to disobey. Presi- 
dent Lincoln knew the value of the man, and sent 
Frank Blair to him to say that if he would abide 
by the Union he should soon command the whole 
active army. That would probably have meant his 
election, in due time, to the presidency of his country. 
"For God's sake don't resign, Lee!" General Scott — 
himself a Virginian — is said to have pleaded. He 
replied: "I am compelled to; I cannot consult my 
own feelings in the matter." Accordingly, three days 
after Virginia passed its ordinance of secession, Lee 
sent to Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, his res- 
ignation as an officer in the United States army. 

Few at the North were able to understand the 
secession movement, most denying that a man at 
once thoughtful and honorable could join in it. So 
centralized had the North by 1861 become in all 
social and economic particulars, that centrality in 
government was taken as a matter of course. Repre- 
senting this, the nation was deemed paramount to 
any state. Governmental sovereignty, like travel 
and trade, had come to ignore state lines. The whole 
idea and feeling of state sovereignty, once as potent 
North as South, had vanished and been forgotten. 

Far otherwise at the South, where, owing to the 
great size of states and to the paucity of railways 
and telegraphs, interstate association was not yet a 
force. Each state, being in square miles ample 
enough for an empire, retained to a great extent the 
consciousness of an independent nation. The state 
was near and palpable; the central government 



158 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

seemed a vague and distant thing. Loyalty was con- 
ceived as binding one primarily to one's own state. 

It is a misconception to explain this feeling — for 
in most cases it was feeling rather than reasoned con- 
viction — by Calhoun's teaching. It resulted from 
geography and history, and, these factors working 
as they did, would have been what it was had Calhoun 
never lived. These considerations explain how Colonel 
Lee, certainly one of the most conscientious men who 
ever lived, felt bound in duty and honor to side 
with seceding Virginia, though he doubted the wisdom 
of her course. 

Most striking among the characteristics of General 
Lee which made him so successful was his exalted 
and unmatched excellence as a man, his unselfishness, 
sweetness, gentleness, patience, love of justice, and 
general elevation of soul. Lee much loved to quote 
Sir William Hamilton's words: "On earth nothing 
great but man: in man nothing great but mind." 
He always added, however: "In mind nothing great 
save devotion tp truth and duty." Though a soldier, 
and at last very eminent as a soldier, he retained from 
the beginning to the end of his career the entire temper 
and character of an ideal civilian. He did not sink 
the man in the military man. He had all a soldier's 
virtues, the "chevalier without fear and without 
reproach," but he was glorified by a whole galaxy of 
excellences which soldiers too often lack. He was 
pure of speech and of habit, never intemperate, never 
obscene, never profane, never irreverent. In domestic 
life he was an absolute model. Lofty command did 
not make him vain. 




ROBERT E. LEE 



(159) 



160 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

That Lee was brave need not be said. He was not 
as rash as Hood and Cleburne sometimes were. He 
knew the value of his life to the great cause, and, 
usually at least, did not expose himself needlessly. 
Prudence he had, but no fear. His resolution to lead 
the charge at the Bloody Angle — rashness at once — 
shows fearlessness. Tender-hearted as he was, Lee 
felt battle frenzy as hardly another great commander 
ever did. From him it spread like magnetism to his 
officers and men, thrilling all as if the chief himself 
were close by in the fray, shouting, "Now fight, my 
good fellows, fight!" Yet such was Lee's self-com- 
mand that this ardor never carried him too far. 

But Lee possessed another order of courage infinitely 
higher and rarer than this — the sort so often lacking 
even in generals who have served with utmost dis- 
tinction in high subordinate places, when they are 
called to the sole and decisive direction of armies: 
he has that royal mettle, that preternatural decision 
of character, ever tempered with caution and wisdom, 
which leads a great commander, when true occasion 
arises, resolutely to give general battle, or a swing 
out away from his base upon a precarious but promis- 
ing campaign. Here you have moral heroism; or- 
dinary valor is more impulsive. A weaker man, 
albeit total stranger to fear, ready to lead his division 
or his corps into the very mouth of hell, if commanded, 
being set himself to direct an army, will be either 
rash or else too timid, or fidget from one extreme to 
the other, losing all. 

It was in this supreme kind of boldness that T?obert 



ROBERT E. LEE 161 

Lee pre-eminently excelled. Cautious always, he 
still took risks and responsibilities which common 
generals would not have dared to take, and when he 
had assumed these, his mighty will forbade him to 
sink under the load. The braying of bitter critics, 
the obloquy of men who should have supported 
him, the shots from behind, dismayed him no more 
than did Burnside's cannon at Fredericksburg. On 
he pressed, stout as a Titan, relentless as fate. What 
time bravest hearts failed at victory's delay, this 
Dreadnaught rose to his best, and furnished courage 
for the whole Confederacy. 

In a sense, of course, the cause for which Lee fought 
was "lost"; yet a very great part of what he and his 
confreres sought, the war actually secured and assured. 
His cause was not "lost" as Hannibal's was, whose 
country, with its institutions, spite of his genius and 
devotion, utterly perished from the earth. Yet 
Hannibal is remembered more widely than Scipio. 
Were Lee in the same case with Hannibal, men would 
magnify his name as long as history is read. "Of 
illustrious men," says Thucydides, " the whole earth 
is the sepulcher. They are immortalized not alone by 
columns and inscriptions in their own lands; memorials 
to them rise in foreign countries as well — not of stone, 
it may be, but unwritten, in the thoughts of posterity." 

Lee's case resembles Cromwell's much more than 
Hannibal's. The regime against which Cromwell 
warred returned in spite of him; but it returned 
modified, involving all the reforms for which the 
chieftain had bled. So the best of what Lee drew 



1G2 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

sword for is here in our actual America, and, please 
God, shall remain here forever. 

Decisions of the United States Supreme Court since 
Secession gave a sweep and a certainty to the rights of 
states and limit the central power in this republic 
as had never been done before. The wild doctrines 
of Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens on these points 
are not our law. If the Union is perpetual, equally 
so is each state. The republic is "an indestructible 
Union of indestructible states." If this part of our 
law had in 1861 received its present definition and 
emphasis, and if the Southern States had then been 
sure, come what might, of the freedom they actually 
now enjoy each to govern itself in its own way, even 
South Carolina might never have voted secession. 
And inasmuch as the war, better than aught else could 
have done, forced this phase of the Constitution out 
into clear expression, General Lee did not fight in 
vain. The essential good he wished has come, while 
the republic with its priceless benedictions to us all 
remains intact. All Americans thus have part in 
Robert Lee, not only as a peerless man and soldier, 
but as the sturdy miner, sledge-hammering the rock 
of our liberties till it give forth its gold. None are 
prouder of his record than those who fought against 
him, who, while recognizing the purity of his motive, 
thought him in error in going from under the stars 
and stripes. It is likely that more American hearts 
day by day think lovingly of Lee than of any other 
Civil War celebrity save Lincoln alone. And his 
praise will increase. 



OUR REUNITED COUNTRY 

Speech of Clark Howell at the Peace Jubilee Banquet in Chicago, Octo- 
ber 19, 1898, in response to the toast "Our Reunited Country: North and 
South." 

Mr. Toastmaster, and my Fellow Country- 
men: — In the mountains of my state, in a. county re- 
mote from the quickening touch of commerce, and 
railroads and telegraphs — so far removed that the 
sincerity of its rugged people flows unpolluted from the 
spring of nature — two vine-covered mounds, nestling 
in the solemn silence of a country churchyard, suggest 
the text of my response to the sentiment to which I 
am to speak to-night. A serious text, Mr. Toast- 
master, for an occasion like this, and yet out of it 
there is life and peace and hope and prosperity, for 
in the solemn sacrifice of the voiceless grave can the 
chiefest lesson of the Republic be learned, and the 
destiny of its real mission be unfolded. So, bear with 
me while I lead you to the rust-stained slab, which for 
a third of a century — since Chickamauga — has been 
kissed by the sun as it peeped over the Blue Ridge, 
melting the tears with which the mourning night had 
bedewed the inscription:— 

"Here lies a Confederate soldier. 
He died for his country." 

The September day which brought the body of this 
mountain hero to that home among the hills which 
had smiled upon his infancy, been gladdened by his 

163 



164 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

youth, and strenglhened by his manhood, was an ever 
memorable one with the sorrowing concourse of friends 
and neighbors who followed his shot-riddled body to 
the grave. And of that number no man gainsaid the 
honor of his death, lacked full loyalty to the flag for 
which he fought, or doubted the justice of the cause 
for which he gave his life. 

Thirty-five years have passed; another war has 
called its roll of martyrs; again the old bell tolls from 
the crude latticed tower of the settlement church; 
another great pouring of symapthetic humanity, and 
this time the body of a son, wrapped in the stars and 
stripes, is lowered to its everlasting rest beside that of 
the father who sleeps in the stars and bars. 

There were those there who stood by the grave of 
the Confederate hero years before, and the children 
of those were there, and of those present no one gain- 
said the honor of the death of this hero of El Caney, 
and none were there but loved, as patriots alone can 
love, the glorious flag that enshrines the people of a 
common country as it enshrouds the form that will 
sleep forever in its blessed folds. And on this tomb 
will be written: 

"Here lies the son of a Confederate soldier. 
He died for his country." 

And so it is that between the making of these two 
graves human hands and human hearts have reached 
a solution of the vexed problem that has baffled human 
will and human thought for three decades. Sturdy 
sons of the South have said to their brothers of the 



OUR REUNITED COUNTRY 165 

North that the people of the South had long since ac- 
cepted the arbitrament of the sword to which they had 
appealed. And likewise the oft-repeated message has 
come back from the North that peace and good will 
reigned, and that the wounds of civil dissention were 
but as sacred memories. Good fellowship was wafted 
on the wings of commerce and development from those 
who had worn the blue to those who had worn the gray. 
Nor were these messages delivered in vain, for they 
served to pave the way for the complete and absolute 
elimination of the line of sectional differences by the 
only process by which such a result was possible. The 
sentiment of the great majority of the people of the 
South was rightly spoken in the message of the im- 
mortal Hill, and in the burning eloquence of Henry 
Grady — both Georgians — the record of whose blessed 
work for the restoration of peace between the sections 
becomes a national heritage, and whose names are 
stamped in enduring impress upon the affection of the 
people of the Republic. 

And yet there were still those among us who be- 
lieved your course was polite, but insincere, and those 
among you who assumed that our professed attitude 
was sentimental and unreal. Bitterness had departed, 
and sectional hate was no more, but there were those 
who feared, even if they did not believe, that between 
the great sections of our greater government there 
was not the perfect faith and trust and love that both 
professed; that there was want of the faith that made 
the American Revolution a successful possibility; that 
that there was want of the trust that crystallized our 

AMKRKA FIHST 11. 



166 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

States into the original Union; that there was lack of 
the love that bound in unassailable strength the united 
sisterhood of States that withstood the shock of Civil 
War. It is true this doubt existed to a greater degree 
abroad than at home. But to-day the mist of un- 
certainty has been swept away by the sunlight of 
events, and there, where doubt obscured before stands 
in bold relief, commanding the admiration of the whole 
world, the most glorious type of united strength and 
sentiment and loyalty known to the history of nations. 

Out of the chaos of that civil war had risen a new 
nation, mighty in the vastness of its limitless resources, 
the realities within its reach surpassing the dreams of 
fiction, and eclipsing the fancy of fable — a new nation, 
yet rosy in the flesh, with the bloom of youth upon its 
cheeks and the gleam of morning in its eyes. No one 
questioned that commercial and geographic union had 
been effected. So had Rome reunited its faltering 
provinces, maintaining the limit of its imperial juris- 
diction by the power of commercial bonds and the 
majesty of the sword, until in its very vastness it col- 
lapsed. The heart of its people did not beat in unison. 
Nations may be made by the joining of hands, but the 
measure of their real strength and vitality, like that 
of the human body, is in the heart. Show me the coun- 
try whose people are not at heart in sympathy with its 
institutions, and the fervor of whose patriotism is not 
bespoken in its flag, and I will show you a ship of state 
which is sailing in shallow waters, toward unseen ed- 
dies of uncertainty, if not to the open rocks of dis- 
memberment. 



OUR REUNITED COUNTRY 167 

Whence was the proof to come, to ourselves as well 
as to the world, that we were being moved once again 
by a common impulse, and by the same heart that in- 
spired and gave strength to the hands that smote the 
British in the days of the Revolution, and again at 
New Orleans; that made our ships the masters of the 
seas ; that placed our flag on Chapultepec, and widened 
our domain from ocean to ocean? How was the world 
to know that the burning fires of patriotism, so essen- 
tial to national glory and achievement, had not been 
quenched by the blood spilled by the heroes of both 
sides of the most desperate struggle known in the his- 
tory of civil wars? How was the doubt that stood, all 
unwilling, between outstretched hands and sympa- 
thetic hearts, to be, in fact, dispelled? 

If from out the caldron of conflict there arose this 
doubt, only from the crucible of war could come the 
answer. And, thank God, that answer has been made 
in the record of the war, the peaceful termination 
of which we celebrate to-night. Read it in every page 
of its history; read it in the obliteration of party 
and sectional lines in the congressional action which 
called the nation to arms in the defense of prostrate 
liberty, and for the extension of the sphere of human 
freedom; read it in the conduct of the distinguished 
Federal soldier who, as the chief executive of this great 
republic,^ honors this occasion by his presence to- 
night, and whose appointments in the first commissions 
issued after war had been declared made manifest the 
sincerity of his often repeated utterances of complete 

' William McKinley. 



1(J8 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

sectional reconciliation and the elimination of sec- 
tional lines in the affairs of government. Differing 
with him, as I do, on party issues, utterly at variance 
with the views of his party on economic problems, I 
sanction with all my heart the obligation that rests 
on every patriotic citizen to make party second to 
country, and in the measure that he has been actuated 
by this broad and patriotic policy he will receive the 
plaudits of the whole people: "Well done, good and 
faithful servant." 

Portentous indeed have been the developments of 
the past six months; the national domain has been 
extended far into the Caribbean Sea on the south, 
and to the west it is so near the mainland of Asia that 
we can hear grating of the process which is grinding 
the ancient celestial empire into pulp for the machinery 
of civilization and of progress. 

But speaking as a Southerner and an American, I 
say that this has been as naught compared to the 
greatest good this war has accomplished. Drawing 
alike from all sections of the Union for her heroes and 
her martyrs, depending alike upon north, south, east 
and west for her glorious victories, and weeping with 
sympathy with the widows and the stricken mothers 
wherever they may be, America, incarnated spirit of 
liberty, stands again to-day the holy emblem of a 
household in which the children abide in unity, equal- 
ity, love and peace. The iron sledge of war that rent 
asunder the links of loyalty and love has welded them 
together again. Ears that were deaf to loving appeals 
for the burial of sectional strife have listened and be- 



OUR REUNITED COUNTRY 169 

lieved when the muster guns have spoken. Hearts 
that were cold to calls for trust and sympathy have 
awakened to loving confidence m the baptism of their 
blood. 

Drawing inspiration from the flag of our country, 
the South has shared not only the dangers, but the 
glories of the war. In the death of brave young Bagley 
at Cardenas, North Carolina furnished the first blood 
in the tragedy. It was Victor Blue of South Carolina, 
who, like the Swamp Fox of the Revolution, crossed 
the fiery path of the enemy at his pleasure, and brought 
the first official tidings of the situation as it existed in 
Cuba. It was Brumby, a Georgia boy, the flag lieu- 
tenant of Dewey, who first raised the stars and stripes 
over Manila. It was Alabama that furnished Hob- 
son who accomplished two things the Spanish navy 
never yet has done — sunk an American ship, and 
made a Spanish man-of-war securely float. 

The South answered the call to arms with its heart, 
and its heart goes out with that of the North in re- 
joicing at the result. The demonstration lacking to 
give the touch of life to the picture has been made. 
The open sesame that was needed to give insight into 
the true and loyal hearts both North and South has 
been spoken. Divided by war, we are united as never 
before by the same agency, and the union is of hearts 
as well as hands. 

The doubter may scoff, and the pessimist may croak, 
but even they must take hope at the picture presented 
in the simple and touching incident of eight Grand 
Army veterans, with their silvery heads bowed in 



170 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

sympathy, escorting the lifeless body of the Daughter 
of the Confederacy from Narrangansett to its last, 
long rest at Richmond. 

When that great and generous soldier, U. S. Grant, 
gave back to Lee, crushed, but ever glorious, the sword 
he had surrendered at Appomattox, that magnanimous 
deed said to the people of the South: "You are our 
brothers." But when the present ruler of our grand 
republic on awakening to the condition of war that 
confronted him, with his first commission placed the 
leader's sword in the hands of those gallant confed- 
erate commanders, Joe Wheeler and Fitzhugh Lee, 
he wrote between the lines in living letters of ever- 
lasting light the words: "There is but one people of 
this Union, one flag alone for all." 

The South, Mr. Toastmaster, will feel that her sons 
have been well given, that her blood has been well 
spilled, if that sentiment is to be indeed the true in- 
spiration of our nation's future. God grant it may be 
as I believe it will. 



THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 

Speech of Henry Cabot Lodge, delivered at a banquet complimentary 
to the Robert E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans, of Richmcmd, Va., 
given in Faneuil Hall, Boston, June 17, 1887. The Southerners were visit- 
ing Boston as the special guests of the John A. Andrew Post 15, Department 
of Massachusetts, Grand Army of the Republic. 

Mr. Chairman: — To such a toast, sir, it would seem 
perhaps most fitting that one of those should respond 
who were a part of the great event which it recalls. 
Yet, after all, on an occasion like this, it may not be 
amiss to call upon one who belongs to a generation to 
whom the Rebellion is little more than history, and 
who, however insufficiently, represents the feelings of 
that and the succeeding generations as to our great 
Civil War. I was a boy ten years old when the troops 
marched away to defend Washington, and my personal 
knowledge of that time is confined to a few broken but 
vivid memories. I saw the troops, month after month, 
pour through the streets of Boston, I saw Shaw go 
forth at the head of his black regiment, and Bartlett, 
shattered in body but dauntless in soul, ride by to 
carry what was left of him once more to the battlefields 
of the republic. I saw Andrew, standing bare-headed 
on the steps of the state house, bid the men God-speed. 
I cannot remember the words he said, but I can never 
forget the fervid eloquence which brought tears to the 
eyes and fire to the hearts of all who listened. I un- 
derstood but dimly the awful meaning of these events. 
To my boyish mind one thing alone was clear, that the 

171 



172 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

soldiers as they marched past were all, in that supreme 
hour, heroes and patriots. Amid many changes that 
simple belief of bojdiood has never altered. The grati- 
tude which I felt then I confess to-day more strongly 
than ever. But other feelings have in the progress of 
time altered much. I have learned, and others of my 
generation as they came to man's estate have learned, 
what the war really meant, and they have also learned 
to know and to do justice to the men who fought the 
war upon the other side. 

I do not stand up in this presence to indulge in any 
mock sentimentality. You brave men who wore the 
gray would be the first to hold me or any other son of 
the North in just contempt if I should say that, now 
it was all over, I thought the North was wrong and the 
result of the war a mistake, and that I was prepared 
to suppress my political opinions. I believe most 
profoundly that the war on our side was eternally right, 
that our victory was the salvation of the country, and 
that the results of the war were of infinite benefit to 
both North and South. But however we differed, or 
still differ, as to the causes for which we fought then, 
we accept them as settled, commit them to history, 
and fight over them no more. To the men who fought 
the battles of the Confederacy we hold out our hands 
freely, frankly, and gladly. To courage and faith 
wherever shown we bow in homage with uncovered 
heads. We respect and honor the gallantry and valor 
of the brave men who fought against us, and who gave 
their lives and shed their blood in defense of what they 
believed to be right. We rejoice that the famous gen- 



THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 173 

era! whose name is borne upon your banner was one of 
the greatest soldiers of modern times, because he, too, 
was an American. We have no bitter memories to 
revive, no reproaches to utter. Reconciliation is not 
to be sought, because it exists already. Differ in poli- 
tics and in a thousand other ways we must and shall 
in all good-nature, but let us never differ with each 
other on sectional or State lines, by race or creed. 

We welcome you, soldiers of Virginia, as others more 
eloquent than I have said, to New England. We wel- 
come you to old Massachusetts. We welcome you to 
Boston and to Faneuil Hall. In your presence here, 
and at the sound of your voices beneath this historic 
roof, the years roll back and we see the figure and hear 
again the ringing tones of your great orator, Patrick 
Henry, declaring to the first Continental Congress, 
"The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, 
New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I 
am not a Virginian, but an American." A distinguished 
Frenchman, as he stood among the graves at Arling- 
ton, said "Only a great people is capable of a great 
civil war." Let us add with thankful hearts that only 
a great people is capable of a great reconciliation. 
Side by side, Virginia and Massachusetts led the colo- 
nies into the War for Independence. Side by side they 
founded the government of the United States. Mor- 
gan and Greene, Lee and Knox, Moultrie and Pres- 
cott, men of the South and men of the North, fought 
shoulder to shoulder, and wore the same uniform of 
buff and blue — the uniform of Washington. 

Your presence here brings back their noble memories, 



174 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

it breathes the spirit of concord, and united with so 
many other voices in the irrevocable message of union 
and good-will. Mere sentiment all this, some may say. 
But it is sentiment, true sentiment, that has moved the 
world. Sentiment fought the war, and sentiment has 
re-united us. When the war closed, it was proposed 
in the newspapers and elsewhere to give Governor 
Andrew, who had sacrificed health and strength and 
property in his public duties, some immediately lucra- 
tive office, like the collectorship of the port of Boston. 
A friend asked him if he would take such a place. "No," 
said he; "I have stood as high priest between the horns 
of the altar, and I have poured out upon it the best 
blood of Massachusetts, and I cannot take money for 
that." Mere sentiment, truly, but the sentiment 
which ennobles and uplifts mankind. It is sentiment 
which so hallows a bit of torn, stained bunting, that 
men go gladly to their deaths to save it. So I say that 
the sentiment manifested by your presence here, breth- 
ren of Virginia, sitting side by side with those who 
wore the blue, has a far-reaching and gracious influence, 
of more value than many practical things. It tells us 
that these two grand old commonwealths, parted in 
the shock of the Civil War, are once more side by side 
as in the days of the Revolution, never to part again. 
It tells us that the sons of Virginia and Massachusetts, 
if war should break again upon the country, will, as in 
the olden days, stand once more sht)ulder to shoulder, 
with no distinction in the colors that they wear. It is 
fraught with tidings of peace on earth and you may 
read its meaning in the words on yonder picture, "Lib- 
erty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." 



A REMINISCENCE OF GETTYSBURG 

The following extract is taken from General John B. Gordon's great 
lecture, "The Last Days of the Confederacy," delivered with marked effect 
throughout the country. This report of the lecture is as given in Brooklyn, 
N, Y., February 7. 1901. 

But now to Gettysburg. That great battle could not 
be described in the space of a lecture. I shall select 
from the myriad of thrilling incidents which rush over 
my memory but two.^ The first I relate because it 
seems due to one of the bravest and knightliest soldiers 
of the Union army. As my command came back from 
the Susquehanna River to Gettysburg, it was thrown 
squarely on the right flank of the Union army. The 
fact that that portion of the Union army melted was 
no disparagement either of its courage or its lofty 
American manhood, for any troops that had ever been 
marshaled, the Old Guard itself, would have been as 
surely and swiftly shattered. It was that movement 
that gave to the Confederate army the first day's 
victory at Gettysburg; and as I rode forward over 
that field of green clover, made red with the blood of 
both armies, I found a major-general among the dead 
and the dying. But a few moments before, I had seen 
the proud form of that magnificent Union oflScer reel 
in the saddle and then fall in the white smoke of the 
battle; and as I rode by, intensely looking into his 
pale face, which was turned to the broiling rays of 
that scorching July sun, I discovered that he was not 

'But one of these incidents is given in this extract. 

175 



176 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

dead. Dismounting from my horse, I lifted his head 
with one hand, gave him water from my canteen, in- 
({uired his name and if he was badly hurt. He was 
(General Francis C. Barlow, of New York. He had been 
shot from his horse while grandly leading a charge. 
The ball had struck him in front, passed through the 
body and out near the spinal cord, completely para- 
lyzing him in every limb ; neither he nor I supposed he 
could live for one hour. I desired to remove him be- 
fore death from that terrific sun. I had him lifted 
on a litter and borne to the shade in the rear. As he 
bade me good-bye, and upon my inquiry what I could 
do for him, he asked me to take from his pocket a 
bunch of letters. Those letters were from his wife, 
and as I opened one at his request, and as his eye 
caught, as he supposed for the last time, that wife's 
signature, the great tears came like a fountain and 
rolled down his pale face; and he said to me, "Gen- 
eral Gordon, you are a Confederate; I am a Union 
soldier; but we are both Americans; if you should 
live through this dreadful war and ever see my wife, 
will you not do me the kindness to tell my wife for 
me that you saw me on this field.? Tell her for me, that 
my last thought on earth was of her; tell her for me 
that you saw me fall in this battle, and that her hus- 
band fell, not in the rear, but at the head of his col- 
umn; tell her for me, general, that I freely give my 
life to my country, but that my unutterable grief is 
that I must now go without the privilege of seeing 
her once more, and bidding her a long and loving fare- 
well." I at once said: "Where is Mrs. Barlow, gen- 
eral .^^ Where could I find her?" for I was determined 



A REMINISCENCE OF GETTYSBURG 177 

that wife should receive that gallant husband's mes- 
sage. He replied: "She is very close to me; she is 
just back of the Union line of battle with the com- 
mander-in-chief at his headquarters." That an- 
nouncement of Mrs. Barlow's presence with the Union 
army struck in this heart of mine another chord of 
deepest and tenderest sympathy; for my wife had 
followed me, sharing with me the privations of the 
camp, the fatigues of the march; again and again was 
she under fire, and always on the very verge of the 
battle was that devoted wife of mine, like an angel of 
protection and an inspiration to duty. I replied: 
"Of course. General Barlow, if I am alive, sir, when 
this day's battle, now in progress is ended — if I am 
not shot dead before the night comes — you may die 
satisfied that I will see to it that Mrs. Barlow has your 
message before to-morrow's dawn." 

And I did. The moment the guns had ceased their 
roar on the hills, I sent a flag of truce with a note to 
Mrs. Barlow. I did not tell her — I did not have the 
heart to tell her that her husband was dead, as I be- 
lieved him to be; but I did tell her that he was des- 
perately wounded, a prisoner in my hands; but that 
she should have safe escort through my lines to her 
husband's side. Late that night, as I lay in the open 
field upon my saddle, a picket from my front announced 
a lady on the line. She was Mrs. Barlow. She had 
received my note and was struggling, under the guid- 
ance of officers of the Union army, to penetrate my 
lines and reach her husband's side. She was guided 
to his side by my staff during the night. Early next 



178 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

morning the battle was renewed, and the following 
day, and then came the retreat of Lee's immortal 
army. I thought no more of that gallant son of the 
North, General Barlow, except to count him among 
the thousands of Americans who had gone down on 
both sides in the dreadful battle. Strangely enough, 
as the war progressed. Barlow concluded not to die; 
Providence decreed that he should live. He recovered 
and rejoined his command; and just one year after 
that, Barlow saw that I was killed in another battle. 
The explanation is perfectly simple. A cousin of mine, 
with the same initials. General J. B. Gordon, of North 
Carolina, was killed in a battle near Richmond. Bar- 
low, who, as I say, had recovered and rejoined his com- 
mand — although I knew he was dead, or thought I 
did — picked up a newspaper and read this item in it: 
"General J. B. Gordon of the Confederate army was 
killed to-day in battle." Calling his staff around him, 
Barlow read that item and said to them, "I am very 
sorry to see this; you will remember that General J. B. 
Gordon was the officer who picked me up on the battle- 
field at Gettysburg, and sent my wife through his lines 
to me at night. I am very sorry. 

Fifteen years passed. Now, I wish the audience to 
remember that during all those fifteen years which 
intervened. Barlow was dead to me, and for fourteen 
of them I was dead to Barlow. In the meantime, the 
partiality of the people of Georgia had placed me in 
the United States senate. Clarkson Potter was a mem- 
ber of Congress from New York. He invited me to 
dine with him to meet his friend, General Barlow. 



A REMINISCENCE OF GETTYSBURG 179 

Now came my time to think. "Barlow," I said, "Bar- 
low? That is the same name, but it can't be my Bar- 
low, for I left him dead at Gettysburg." And I en- 
deavored to understand what it meant, and thought I 
had made the discovery. I was told, as I made the 
inquiry, that there were two Barlows in the United 
States army. That satisfied me at once. I concluded, 
as a matter of course, that it was the other fellow I 
was going to meet; that Clarkson Potter had invited 
me to dine with the living Barlow and not with the 
dead one. Barlow had a similar reflection about the 
Gordon he was to dine with. He supposed that I was 
the other Gordon. We met at Clarkson Potter's table. 
I sat just opposite to Barlow; and in the lull of the con- 
versation I asked him, "General, are you related to the 
Barlow who was killed at Gettysburg.?" He replied: 
"I am the man, sir." "Are you related," he asked, 
"to the Gordon who killed me.?" "Well," I said, "I 
am the man sir." The scene which followed beggars 
all description. No language could describe that scene 
at Clarkson Potter's table in Washington, fifteen years 
after the war was over. Truth is indeed stranger than 
fiction. Think of it! What could be stranger? There 
we met, both dead, each of us presenting to the other 
the most absolute proof of the resurrection of the dead. 

But stranger still, perhaps, is the friendship true and 
lasting begun under such auspices. What could be 
further removed from the realms of probabilities than 
a confiding friendship between combatants, which is 
born on the field of blood, amidst the thunders of bat- 
tle, and while the hostile legions rush upon each other 



180 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

with deadly fury and pour into each other's breasts 
their volleys of fire and of leaden hail. Such were the 
circumstances under which was born the friendship 
between Barlow and myself, and which I believe is 
more sincere because of its remarkable birth, and which 
has strengthened and deepened with the passing years. 
For the sake of our reunited and glorious Republic may 
we not hope that similar ties will bind together all the 
soldiers of the two armies — indeed all Americans in 
perpetual unity until the last bugle call shall have 
summoned us to the eternal camping grounds be- 
vond the stars .'^ 



THE NEW SOUTH 

Address by Henry W. Grady, journalist [born in Athens, Ga., May 17, 
1851; died in Atlanta, Ga., December 23, 1889], delivered at the eighty- 
first anniversary celebration of the New England Society in the city of 
New York, December 22, 1886. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen: — "There was a 
South of slavery and secession — that South is dead. 
There is a South of union and freedom — that South, 
thank God, is hving, breathing, growing every hour." 
These words, deHvered from the immortal lips of Ben- 
jamin H. Hill, at Tammany Hall in 1866, true then, 
and truer now, I shall make my text to-night. 

Let me express to you my appreciation of the kind- 
ness by which I am permitted to address you. I make 
this abrupt acknowledgment advisedly, for I feel that 
if, when I raise my provincial voice in this ancient and 
august presence, I could find courage for no more than 
the opening sentence, it would be well if, in that sen- 
tence, I had met in a rough sense my obligation as a 
guest, and had perished, so to speak, with courtesy 
on my lips and grace in my heart. Permitted through 
your kindness to catch my second wind, let me say that 
I appreciate the significance of being the first South- 
erner to speak at this board, which bears the substance, 
if it surpasses the semblance, of original New England 
hospitality and honors a sentiment that in turn honors 
you, but in which my personality is lost, and the com- 
pliment to my people made plain. 

I bespeak the utmost stretch of your courtesy to- 

181 

AMERICA KIKST 12. 



182 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

night. I am not troubled about those from whom I 
come. You remember the man whose wife sent him to 
a neighbor with a pitcher of milk, and who, tripping 
on the top step, fell, with such casual interruptions 
as the landing afforded, into the basement; and while 
picking himself up had the pleasure of hearing his wife 
call out: "John, did you break the pitcher.?" "No, I 
didn't," said John, "but I be dinged if I don't!" 

So, while those who call to me from behind may in- 
spire me with energy if not with courage, I ask an in- 
dulgent hearing from you. I beg that you will bring 
your full faith in American fairness and frankness to 
judgment upon what I shall say. There was an old 
preacher once who told some boys of the Bible lesson 
he was going to read in the morning. The boys find- 
ing the place, glued together the connecting pages. 
The next morning he read on the bottom of one page: 
"When Noah was one hundred and twenty years old 
he took unto himself a wife, who was" — then turning 
the page — "one hundred and forty cubits long, forty 
cubits wide, built of gopher-wood, and covered with 
pitch inside and out." He was naturally puzzled at 
this. He read it again, verified it, and then said: 
"My friends, this is the first time I ever met this in 
the Bible, but I accept it as an evidence of the asser- 
tion that we are fearfully and wonderfully made." If 
I could get you to hold such faith to-night I could pro- 
ceed cheerfully to the task I otherwise approach with 
a sense of consecration. 

Pardom me one word, Mr. President, spoken for the 
sole purpose of getting into the volumes that go out 



THE NEW SOUTH 183 

annually freighted with the rich eloquence of your 
speakers — the fact that the Cavalier as well as the 
Puritan was on the continent in its early days, and 
that he was "up and able to be about." I have 
read your books carefully and I find no mention of 
that fact, which seems to me an important one for 
preserving a sort of historical equilibrium if for nothing 
else. Let me remind you the Virginia Cavalier first 
challenged France on this continent — that Cavalier 
John Smith gave New England its very name, and was 
so pleased with the job that he has been handing his 
own name around ever since — and that while Miles 
Standish was cutting off men's ears for courting a girl 
without her parents' consent, and forbade men to kiss 
their wives on Sunday, the Cavalier was courting every- 
thing in sight, and that the Almighty had vouchsafed 
great increase to the Cavalier colonies, the huts in the 
wilderness being full as the nests in the woods. 

But having incorporated the Cavalier as a fact in 
your charming little books I shall let him work out 
his own salvation, as he has always done with engaging 
gallantry, and we will hold no controversy as to his 
merits. Why should we? Neither Puritan or Cavalier 
long survived as such. The virtues and traditions of 
both happily still live for the inspiration of their sons 
and the saving of the old fashion. But both Puritan 
and Cavalier were lost in the storm of the first Revo- 
lution; and the American citizen, supplanting both 
and stronger than either, took possession of the re- 
public bought by their common blood and fashioned 
to wisdom, and charged himself with teaching men 



184 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

government and establishing the voice of the people 
as the voice of God. 

My friend. Dr. Talmage has told you that the typi- 
cal American has yet to come. Let me tell you that 
he has already come. Great types like valuable plants 
are slow to flower and fruit. But from the union 
of these colonies Puritans and Cavaliers, from the 
straightening of their purposes and the crossing of 
their blood, slow perfecting through a century, came 
he who stands as the first typical American, the first 
who comprehended within himself all the strength 
and gentleness, all the majesty and grace of this re- 
public — Abraham Lincoln. He was the son of Puritan 
and Cavalier, for in his ardent nature were fused the 
virtues of both, and in the depths of his great soul the 
faults of both were lost. He was greater than Puritan, 
greater than Cavalier, in that he was American re- 
newed, and that in his homely form were first gathered 
the vast and thrilling forces of his ideal government — 
charging it with such tremendous meaning and so 
elevating it above human suffering that martyrdom, 
though infamously aimed, came as a fitting crown to 
a life consecrated from the cradle to human liberty. 
Let us, each cherishing the traditions and honoring 
his fathers, build with reverent hands to the type of 
this simple but sublime life, in which all types are 
honored; and in our common glory as Americans there 
will be plenty and to spare for your forefathers and for 
mine. 

In speaking to the toast with which you have hon- 
ored me, I accept the term, "The New South," as in 



THE NEW SOUTH 185 

no sense disparaging to the Old. Dear to me, sir, is 
the home of my childhood and the traditions of my 
people. I would not, if I could, dim the glory they 
won in peace and war, or by word or deed take aught 
from the splendor and grace of their civilization^ 
never equaled and, perhaps, never to be equaled in its 
chivalric strength and grace. There is a New South, 
not through protest against the Old, but because of 
new conditions, new adjustments and, if you please, 
new ideas and aspirations. It is to this that I address 
myself, and to the consideration of which I hasten 
lest it become the Old South before I get to it. Age 
does not endow all things with strength and virtue, 
nor are all new things to be despised. The shoemaker 
who put over his door "John Smith's shop. Founded 
in 1760," was more than matched by his young rival 
across the street who hung out this sign: "Bill Jones. 
Established 1886. No old stock kept in this shop." 

Dr. Talmage has drawn for you, with a master's 
hand, the picture of your returning armies. He has 
told you how, in the pomp and circumstance of war, 
they came back to you, marching with proud and 
victorious tread, reading their glory in a nation's eyes! 
Will you bear with me while I tell you of another army 
that sought its home at the close of the late war — an 
army that marched home in defeat and not in victory 
— in pathos and not in splendor, but in glory that 
equalled yours, and to hearts as loving as ever wel- 
comed heroes home. Let me picture to you the foot- 
sore Confederate soldier, as, buttoning up in his faded 
gray jacket the parole which was to bear testimony to 



186 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

his children of his fidelity and faith, he turned his face 
southward from Appomattox in April, 1865. Think 
of him as ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted, en- 
feebled by want and wounds; having fought to ex- 
haustion, he surrenders his gun, wrings the hands of 
his comrades in silence, and lifting his tear-stained 
and pallid face for the last time to the graves that dot 
the old Virginia hills, pulls his gray cap over his brow 
and begins the slow and painful journey. What does 
he find — let me ask you, who went to your homes 
eager to find in the welcome you had justly earned, 
full payment for four years' sacrifice — what does he 
find when, having followed the battle-stained cross 
against overwhelming odds, dreading death not half 
so much as surrender, he reaches the home he left so 
prosperous and beautiful.'^ He finds his house in ruins, 
his farm devastated, his slaves free, his stock killed, 
his barns empty, his trade destroyed, his money worth- 
less; his social system, feudal in its magnificence, swept 
away; his people without law or legal status, his com- 
rades slain, and the burdens of others heavy on his 
shoulders. Crushed by defeat, his very traditions 
are gone; without money, credit, employment, mater- 
ial or training; and besides all this, confronted with 
the gravest problem that ever met human intelli- 
gence — the establishing of a status for the vast body 
of his liberated slaves. 

What does he do — this hero in gray with a heart of 
gold? Does he sit down in sullenness and despair? 
Not for a day. Surely God, who had stripped him of 
his prosperity, inspired him in his adversity. As ruin 



THE NEW SOUTH 187 

was never before so overwhelming, never was restora- 
tion swifter. The soldier stepped from the trenches 
into the furrow; horses that had charged Federal 
guns marched before the plow, and fields that ran red 
with human blood in April were green with the harvest 
in June; women reared in luxury cut up their dresses 
and made breeches for their husbands, and, with a 
patience and heroism that fit women always as a gar- 
ment, gave their hands to work. There was little 
bitterness in all this. Cheerfulness and frankness pre- 
vailed. "Bill Arp" struck the keynote when he said: 
"Well, I killed as many of them as they did of me, 
and now I am going to work." Or the soldier return- 
ing home after defeat and roasting some corn on the 
roadside, who made the remark to his comrades: 
"You may leave the South if you want to, but I am 
going to Sanders ville, kiss my wife and raise a crop, 
and if the Yankees fool with me any more I will whip 
'em again." I want to say to General Sherman — who 
is considered an able man in our part, though some 
people think he is a kind of careless man about fire — 
that from the ashes he left us in 1864 we have raised a 
brave and beautiful city; that somehow or other we 
have caught the sunshine in the bricks and mortar 
of our homes, and have builded therein not one ignoble 
prejudice or memory. 

But in all this what have we accomplished? What is 
the sum of our work? We have found out that in the 
general summary the free negro counts more than he 
did as a slave. We have planted the schoolhouse on 
the hilltop and made it free to white and black. We 



188 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

have sowed towns and cities in the place of theories 
and put business above politics. We have challenged 
your spinners in Massachusetts and your iron-makers 
in Pennsylvania. We have learned that the -^400,000,- 
000 annually received from our cotton crop will make 
us rich, when the supplies that make it are home- 
raised. We have reduced the commercial rate of 
interest from twenty-four to six per cent., and are 
floating four per cent, bonds. We have learned that 
one Northern immigrant is worth fifty foreigners, and 
have smoothed the path to southward, wiped out the 
place where Mason and Dixon's line used to be, and 
hung our latch-string out, to you and yours. We 
have reached the point that marks perfect harmony 
in every household, when the husband confesses that 
the pies which his wife cooks are as good as those his 
mother used to bake; and we admit that the sun 
shines as brightly and the moon as softly as it did 
"before the war." We have established thrift in 
city and country. We have fallen in love with 
work. We have restored comfort to homes from 
which culture and elegance never departed. We have 
let economy take root and spread among us as rank 
as the crabgrass which sprung from Sherman's cavalry 
camps, until we are ready to lay odds on the Georgia 
Yankee, as he manufactures relics of the battlefield 
in a one-story shanty and squeezes pure olive oil out 
of his cotton seed, against any down-easter that ever 
swapped wooden nutmegs for flannel sausages in the 
valleys of Vermont. Above all, we know that we 
have achieved in these "piping times of peace" a fuller 
independence for the South than that which our 



THE NEW SOUTH 189 

fathers sought to win in the forum by their eloquence 
or compel on the field by their swords. 

It is a rare privilege, sir, to have had part, however 
humble, in this work. Never was nobler duty confided 
to human hands than the uplifting and upbuilding of 
the prostrate and bleeding South, misguided, perhaps, 
but beautiful in her suffering, and honest, brave and 
generous always. In the record of her social, indus- 
trial, and political institutions we await with con- 
fidence the verdict of the world. 

But what of the negro? Have we solved the problem 
he presents or progressed in honor and equity towards 
the solution? Let the record speak to the point. No 
section shows a more prosperous laboring population 
than the negroes of the South ; none in fuller sympathy 
with the employing and landowning class. He shares 
our school fund, has the fullest protection of our laws 
and the friendship of our people. Self-interest, as well 
as honor, demand that he should have this. Our future, 
our very existence depend upon our working out this 
problem in full and exact justice. We understand that 
when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, 
your victory was assured; for he then committed you 
to the cause of human liberty, against which the arms 
of man cannot prevail; while those of our statesmen 
who trusted to make slavery the cornerstone of the 
Confederacy doomed us to defeat as far as they could, 
committing us to a cause that reason could not de- 
fend or the sword maintain in the sight of advancing 
civilization. Had Mr. Toombs said, which he did not 
say, that he would call the roll of his slaves at the foot 



190 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

of Bunker Hill, he would have been foolish, for he 
might have known that whenever slavery became en- 
tangled in war it must perish, and that the chattel in 
human flesh ended forever in New England when your 
fathers — not to be blamed for parting with what didn't 
pay — sold their slaves to our fathers — not to be praised 
for knowing a paying thing when they saw it. 

The relations of the Southern people with the negro 
are close and cordial. We remember with what fidelity 
for four years he guarded our defenseless women and 
children, whose husbands and fathers were fighting 
against his freedom. To his eternal credit be it said 
that whenever he struck a blow for his own liberty he 
fought in open battle, and when at last he raised his 
black and humble hands that the shackles might be 
struck off, those hands were innocent of wrong against 
his helpless charges, and worthy to be taken in loving 
grasp by every man who honors loyalty and devotion. 
Ruffians have maltreated him, rascals have misled 
him, philanthropists established a bank for him, 
but the South, with the North, protests against 
injustice to this simple and sincere people. To liberty 
and enfranchisement is as far as law can carry the 
negro. The rest must be left to conscience and com- 
mon sense. It should be left to those among whom his 
lot is cast, with whom he is indissolubly connected and 
whose prosperity depends upon their possessing his 
intelligent sympathy and confidence. Faith has been 
kept with him in spite of calumnious assertions to the 
contrary by those who assume to speak for us or by 
frank opponents. Faith will be kept with him in the 
future, if the South holds her reason and integrity. 



THE NEW SOUTH 191 

But have we kept faith with you? In the fullest 
sense, yes. When Lee surrendered — I don't say when 
Johnston surrendered, because I understand he still 
alludes to the time when he met General Sherman last 
as the time when he "determined to abandon any fur- 
ther prosecution of the struggle" — when Lee surrend- 
ered, I say, and Johnston quit, the South became, and 
has since been, loyal to this Union. We fought hard 
enough to know that we were whipped, and in perfect 
frankness accepted as final the arbitrament of the 
sword to which we had appealed. The South found 
her jewel in the toad's head of defeat. The shackles 
that had held her in narrow limitations fell forever 
when the shackles of the negro slave were broken. 
Lender the old regime the negroes were slaves to the 
South, the South was a slave to the system. The old 
plantation, with its simple police regulation and its 
feudal habit, was the only type possible under slavery. 
Thus we gathered in the hands of a splendid and chival- 
ric oligarchy the substance that should have been 
diffused among the people, as the rich blood, under 
certain artificial conditions, is gathered at the heart, 
filling with affluent rapture, but leaving the body chill 
and colorless. 

The Old South rested everything on slavery and 
agriculture, unconscious that these could neither give 
nor maintain healthy growth. The New South pre- 
sents a perfect democracy, the oligarchs leading in the 
popular movement — a social system compact and 
closely knitted, less splendid on the surface but strong- 
er at the core — a hundred farms for every plantation, 



192 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

fifty homes for every palace, and diversified industry 
that meets the complex needs of this complex age. 

The New South is enamored of her new work. Her 
soul is stirred with the breath of a new life. The light 
of a grander day is falling fair on her face. She is thrill- 
ing with the consciousness of growing power and pros- 
perity. As she stands upright, full-statured and equal 
among the people of the earth, breathing the keen air 
and looking out upon the expanding horizon, she un- 
derstands that her emancipation came because in the 
inscrutable wisdom of God her honest purpose was 
crossed and her brave armies were beaten. 

This is said in no spirit of time-serving or apology. 
The South has nothing for which to apologize. She 
believes that the late struggle between the states was 
war and not rebellion, revolution and not conspiracy, 
and that her convictions were as honest as yours. I 
should be unjust to the dauntless spirit of the South 
and to my own convictions if I did not make this plain in 
this presence. The South has nothing to take back. 
In my native town of Athens is a monument that 
crowns its central hills — a plain, white shaft. Deep 
cut into its shining side is a name dear to me above the 
names of men, that of a brave and simple man who 
died in brave and simple faith. Not for all the glories 
of New England — from Plymouth Rock all the way — 
would I exchange the heritage he left me in his soldier's 
death. To the foot of that shaft I shall send my chil- 
dren's children to reverence him -who ennobled their 
name with his heroic blood. But, sir, speaking from 
the shadow of that memory, which I honor as I do 



THE NEW SOUTH 193 

nothing else on earth, I say that the cause in which he 
suffered and for which he gave his Hfe was adjudged 
by higher and fuller wisdom than his or mine, and I 
am glad that the omniscient God held the balance of 
battle in His Almighty hand, and that human slavery 
was swept forever from American soil — the American 
Union saved from the wreck of war. 

This message, Mr. President, comes to you from con- 
secrated ground. Every foot of the soil about the city 
in which I live is sacred as a battleground of the re- 
public. Every hill that invests it is hallowed to you 
by the blood of your brothers, who died for your vic- 
tory, and doubly hallowed to us by the blood of those 
who died hopeless, but undaunted, in defeat — sacred 
soil to all of us, rich with memories that make us purer 
and stronger and better, silent but stanch witnesses 
in its red desolation of the matchless valor of American 
hearts and the deathless glory of American arms — 
speaking in eloquent witness in its white peace and 
prosperity to the indissoluble union of American states 
and the imperishable brotherhood of the American 
people. 

Now, what answer has New England to this message? 
Will she permit the prejudices of war to remain in the 
hearts of the conquerors, when it has died in the hearts 
of the conquered.? ("No! No!") Will she transmit 
this prejudice to the next generation, that in their 
hearts, which never felt the generous ardor of conflict, 
it may perpetuate itself? ("No! No!") Will she 
withhold, save in strained courtesy, the hand which 
straight from his soldier's heart Grant offered to Lee 



194 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

at Appomattox? Will she make the vision of a re- 
stored and happy people, which gathered above the 
couch of your dying captain, filling his heart with grace, 
touching his lips with praise and glorifying his path 
to the grave; will she make this vision on which the 
last sigh of his expiring soul breathed a benediction, a 
cheat and a delusion? If she does, the South, never 
abject in asking for comradeship, must accept with 
dignity its refusal; but if she does not; if she accepts 
in frankness and sincerity this message of goodwill 
and friendship, then will the prophecy of Webster, 
delivered in this very Society forty years ago amid 
tremendous applause, be verified in its fullest and final 
sense, when he said: "Standing hand to hand and 
clasping hands, we should remain united as we have 
been for sixty years, citizens of the same country, 
members of the same government, united, all united 
now and united forever. There have been difficulties, 
contentions, and controversies, but I tell you that in 
my judgment 

" 'Those opposed eyes, 
Which like the meteors of a troubled heaven, 
All of one nature, of one substance bred. 
Did lately meet in th' intestine shock. 
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks, 
March all one way.' " 



THE DUTY AND VALUE OF PATRIOTISM 

John Ireland, Archbishop of Saint Paul, was born at Burnchurch, 
County Kilkenny, Ireland, September 11, 1838. As a boy he came to 
Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1849, and there obtained his secular education 
at the Cathedral Scliool. He studied theology in France, in the semin- 
aries of Meximieux and Hyeres. During the Civil War he was chaplain of 
the Fifth Minnesota Regiment. In 1875 he was consecrated bishop of 
Saint Paul. In 1869 he founded the first total-abstinence society in Minne- 
sota and has lectured much on temperance in the United States and Great 
Britain. The following extracts, used by special permission, are from his 
lecture delivered before the New York Commandery of the Loyal Legion, 
New York, April 4, 1894. 

Patriotism is love of country, and loyalty to its life 
and weal — love tender and strong, tender as the love 
of son for mother, strong as the pillars of death; loyalty 
generous and disinterested, shrinking from no sacri- 
fice, seeking no reward save country's honor and 
country's triumph. 

Patriotism! There is magic in the word. It is bliss 
to repeat it. Through ages the human race burnt the 
incense of admiration and reverence at the shrines of 
patriotism. The most beautiful pages of history are 
those which recount its deeds. Fireside tales, the 
outpourings of the memories of peoples, borrow from 
it their warmest glow. Poets are sweetest when they 
reecho its whisperings; orators are most potent when 
they thrill its chords to music. 

Pagan nations were wrong when they made gods of 
their noblest patriots. But the error was the excess of 
a great truth, that heaven unites with earth in ap- 



195 



196 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

proving and blessing patriotism; that patriotism is 
one of earth's highest virtues, worthy to have come 
down from the atmosphere of the skies. 

The exalted patriotism of the exiled Hebrew ex- 
haled itself in a canticle of religion which Jehovah in- 
spired, and which has been transmitted, as the in- 
heritance of God's people to the Christian Church: 

"Upon the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, 
when we remembered Sion. — If I forget thee, O Jeru- 
salem, let my right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue 
cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee, if I do 
not make Jerusalem the beginning of my joy." 

The human race pays homage to patriotism because 
of its supreme value. The value of patriotism to a 
people is above gold and precious stones, above com- 
merce and industry, above citadels and warships. 
Patriotism is the vital spark of national honor; it is 
the fount of the nation's prosperity, the shield of the 
nation's safety. Take patriotism away, the nation's 
soul has fled, bloom and beauty have vanished from 
the nation's countenance. 

The human race pays homage to patriotism because 
of its supreme loveliness. Patriotism goes out to what 
is among earth's possessions the most precious, the 
first and best and dearest — country — and its effusion 
is the fragrant flowering of the purest and noblest 
sentiments of the heart. 

Patriotism is innate in all men; the absence of it 
betokens a perversion of human nature; but it grows 
its full growth only where thoughts are elevated and 
heart-beatings are generous. 



THE DUTY AND VALUE OF PATRIOTISM 197 

Next to God is country, and next to religion is 
patriotism. No praise goes beyond its deserts. It 
is sublime in its heroic oblation upon the field of battle. 
"Oh glorious is he," exclaims in Homer the Trojan 
warrior, "who for his country falls!" It is sublime in 
the oft-repeated toil of dutiful citizenship. "Of all 
human doings," writes Cicero, "none is more honor- 
able and more estimable than to merit well of the com- 
mon wealth." 

Countries are of divine appointment. The Most 
High "divided the nations, separated the sons of Adam, 
and appointed the bounds of peoples." The physical 
and moral necessities of God's creatures are revela- 
tions of his will and laws. Man is born a social being. 
A condition of his existence and of his growth of ma- 
ture age is the family. Nor does the family suffice to 
itself. A larger social organism is needed, into which 
families gather, so as to obtain from one another secur- 
ity to life and property and aid in the development of 
the faculties and powers with which nature has en- 
dowed the children of men. 

The whole human race it too extensive and too di- 
versified in interests to serve those ends: hence its 
subdivisions into countries or peoples. Countries have 
their providential limits — the waters of a sea, a mount- 
ain range, the lines of similarity of requirements or of 
methods of living. The limits widen in space accord- 
ing to the measure of the destinies which the great 
Ruler allots to peoples, and the importance of their 
parts in the mighty work of the cycles of years, the 
ever-advancing tide of humanity's evolution. 

AMERICA FIRST 13. 



198 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

The Lord is the God of nations because he is the God 
of men. No nation is born into life or vanishes back 
into nothingness without his bidding, I beheve in the 
providence of God over countries as I believe in his wis- 
dom and his love, and my patriotism to my country 
rises within my soul invested with the halo of my 
religion to my God. 

More than a century ago a trans-Atlantic poet and 
philosopher, reading well the signs, wrote: 

"Westward the course of empire takes its way. 
The first four acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day; 
Time's noblest offspring is the last." 

Berkeley's prophetic eye had descried America. 
What shall I say, in a brief discourse of my country's 
value and beauty, of her claims to my love and loyalty.^^ 
I will pass by in silence her fields and forests, her rivers 
and seas, the boundless riches hidden beneath her soil 
and amid the rocks of her mountains, her pure and 
health-giving air, her transcendent wealth of nature's 
fairest and most precious gifts. I will not speak of the 
noble qualities and robust deeds of her sons, skilled in 
commerce and indu^ry, valorous in war, prosperous 
in peace. In all these things America is opulent and 
great: but beyond them and above them in her singu- 
lar grandeur, to which her material splendor is only 
the fitting circumstance. 

America born into the family of nations in these 
latter times is the highest billow in humanity's evolu- 
tion, the crowning effort of ages in the aggrandizement 
of man. Unless we take her in this altitude, we do not 



THE DUTY AND VALUE OF PATRIOTISM 199 

comprehend her; we behttle her towering stature 
and conceal the singular design of Providence in her 
creation. 

America is the country of human dignity and human 
liberty. 

When the fathers of the republic declared "that all 
men are created equal; that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among 
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," 
a cardinal principle was enunciated which in its truth 
was as old as the race, but in practical realization al- 
most unknown. 

Slowly, amid suflFerings and revolutions, humanity 
had been reaching out toward a reign of the rights of 
man. Ante-Christian paganism had utterly denied 
such rights. It allowed nothing to man as man; he 
was what wealth, place, or power made him. Even 
the wise Aristotle taught that some men were intended 
by nature to be slaves and chattels. The sweet religion 
of Christ proclaimed aloud the doctrine of the com- 
mon fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood 
of men. 

Eighteen hundred years, however, went by, and the 
civilized world had not yet put its civil and political 
institutions in accord with its spiritual faith. The 
Christian Church was all this time leavening human 
society and patiently awaiting the promised fermenta- 
tion. This came at last, and it came in America. It 
came in a first manifestation through the Declaration 
of Independence; it came in a second and final mani- 
festation through President Lincoln's Proclamation of 
Emancipation. 



200 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

In America all men are civilly and politically equal; 
all have the same rights; all wield the same arm of 
defense and of conquest, the suffrage; and the sole 
condition of rights and of power is simple manhood. 

Liberty is the exemption from all restraint save that 
of the laws of justice and order; the exemption from 
submission to other men, except as they represent and 
enforce those laws. The divine gift of liberty to man 
is God's recognition of his greatness and his dignity. 
The sweetness of man's life and the power of growth 
lie in liberty. The loss of liberty is the loss of light 
and sunshine, the loss of life's best portion. Humanity, 
under the spell of heavenly memories, never ceased to 
dream of liberty and to aspire to its possession. Now 
and then, here and there, its refreshing breezes caressed 
humanity's brow. But not until the republic of the 
West was born, not until the Star-Spangled Banner 
rose toward the skies, was liberty caught up in human- 
ity's embrace and embodied in a great and abiding 
nation. 

In America the government takes from the liberty 
of the citizen only so much as is necessary for' the weal 
of the nation, which the citizen by his own act freely 
concedes. In America there are no masters, who gov- 
ern in their own rights, for their own interests, or at 
their own will. We have over us no Louis XIV, say- 
ing: "L'etat, c'est moi;" no Hohenzollern, announcing 
that in his acts as sovereign he is responsible only to 
his conscience and to God. 

Ours is the government of the people by the people 
for the people. The government is our organized will. 



THE DUTY AND VALUE OF PATRIOTISM 201 

There is no state above or apart from the people. 
Rights begin with and go upward from the people. In 
other countries, even those apparently the most free, 
rights begin with and come downward from the state; 
the rights of citizens, the rights of the people, are con- 
cessions which have been painfully wrenched from the 
governing powers. 

With Americans, whenever the organized govern- 
ment does not prove its grant, the liberty of the in- 
dividual citizen is sacred and inviolable. Elsewhere 
there are governments called republics; universal suf- 
frage constitutes the state; but, once constituted, 
the state is tyrannous and arbitrary, invades at will 
private rights, and curtails at will individual liberty. 
One republic is liberty's native home — America. 



OUR COUNTRY 

From the speech of President McKinley, in response to the toast "Our 
Country," at the Peace Jubilee banquet in Chicago, October 19, 1898. 

Mr. Toast-master and Gentlemen: — It affords 
me gratification to meet the people of the city of Chi- 
cago and to participate with them in this patriotic 
celebration. Upon the suspension of hostilities of a 
foreign war, the first in our history for over half a cen- 
tury, we have met in a spirit of peace, profoundly 
grateful for the glorious advancement already made, 
and earnestly wishing in the final termination to real- 
ize an equally glorious fulfillment. With no feeling 
of exultation, but with profound thankfulness, we 
contemplate the events of the past five months. They 
have been too serious to admit of boasting or vain- 
glorification. They have been so full of responsibili- 
ties, immediate and prospective, as to admonish the 
soberest judgment and counsel the most conservative 
action. 

This is not the time to fire the imagination, but 
rather to discover, in calm reason, the way to truth, 
and justice, and right, and when discovered to follow 
it with fidelity and courage, without fear, hesitation, 
or weakness. 

The war has put upon the nation grave responsibili- 
ties. Their extent was not anticipated and could not 
have been well foreseen. We cannot escape the obli- 
gations of victory. We cannot avoid the serious ques- 



202 



OUR COUNTRY 203 

tlons which have been brought home to us by the 
achievements of our arms on land and sea. We are 
bound in conscience to keep and perform the coven- 
ants which the war has sacredly sealed with man- 
kind. Accepting war for humanity's sake, we must 
accept all obligations which the war in duty and honor 
imposed upon us. The splendid victories we have 
achieved would be our eternal shame and not our 
everlasting glory if they led to the weakening of our 
original lofty purpose or to the desertion of the im- 
mortal principles on which the national government 
was founded, and in accordance with whose ennob- 
ling spirit it has ever since been faitlifully administered. 

The war with Spain was undertaken not that the 
United States should increase its territory, but that 
oppression at our very doors should be stopped. This 
noble sentiment must continue to animate us, and we 
must give to the world the full demonstration of the 
sincerity of our purpose. Duty determines destiny. 
Destiny which results from duty performed may bring 
anxiety and perils, but never failure and dishonor. 
Pursuing duty may not always lead by smooth paths. 
Another course may look easier and more attractive, 
but pursuing duty for duty's sake is always sure and 
safe and honorable. It is not within the power of man 
to foretell the future and to solve unerringly its mighty 
problems. Almighty God has His plans and methods 
for human progress, and not infrequently they are 
shrouded for the time being in impenetrable mystery. 
Looking backward we can see how the hand of destiny 
builded for us and assigned us tasks whose full meaning 



204 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

was not apprehended even by the wisest statesmen of 
their times. 

Our colonial ancestors did not enter upon their war 
originally for independence. Abraham Lincoln did 
not start out to free the slaves, but to save the Union. 
The war with Spain was not of our seeking, and some 
of its consequences may not be to our liking. Our 
vision is often defective. Short-sightedness is a com- 
mon malady, but the closer we get to things or they 
get to us the clearer our view and the less obscure our 
duty. Patriotism must be faithful as well as fervent; 
statesmanship must be wise as well as fearless — not the 
statesmanship which will command the applause of 
the hour, but the approving judgment of posterity. 

The progress of a nation can alone prevent degenera- 
tion. There must be new life and purpose, or there 
will be weakness and decay. There must be broaden- 
ing of thought as well as broadening of trade. Terri- 
torial expansion is not alone and always necessary to 
national advancement. There must be a constant 
movement toward a higher and nobler civilization, a 
civilization that shall make its conquests without re- 
sort to war and achieve its greatest victories pursuing 
the arts of peace. 

In our present situation duty — and duty alone — 
should prescribe the boundary of our responsibilities 
and the scope of our undertakings. The final deter- 
mination of our purposes awaits the action of the emi- 
nent men who are charged by the executive with the 
making of the treaty of peace, and that of the senate 
of the United States, which, by our constitution, must 



OUR COUNTRY 205 

ratify and confirm it. We all hope and pray that the 
confirmation of peace will be as just and humane as 
the conduct and consummation of the war. When 
the work of the treaty-makers is done the work of the 
law-makers will begin. The one will settle the ex- 
tent of our responsibilities; the other must provide 
the legislation to meet them. The army and navy 
have nobly and heroically performed their part. May 
God give the executive and congress wisdom to per- 
form theirs. 



BEHOLD THE AMERICAN 

From the speech of Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage at the eighty-6rst an- 
nual dinner of the New England Society in New York, December 22, 1886. 

Mr. President, and all you good New England- 
ERs: — If we leave to the evolutionists to guess where 
we came from and to the theologians to prophesy 
where are we going to, we still have left for considera- 
tion the fact that we are here; and we are here at an 
interesting time. Of all the centuries this is the best 
century, and of all the decades of the century this is 
the best decade, and of all the years of the decade this 
is the best year, and of all the months of the year this 
is the best month, and of all the nights of the month 
this is the best night. Many of these advantages 
we trace straight back to Forefathers' Day, about 
which I am to speak. 

Well, what about this Forefathers' Day.'' In Brook- 
lyn they say the Landing of the Pilgrims was Decem- 
ber the 21st; in New York you say it was December 
the 22d. You are both right. Not through the speci- 
ous and artful reasoning you have sometimes indulged 
in, but by a little historical incident that seems to have 
escaped your attention. You see, the Forefathers 
landed in the morning of December the 21st, but about 
noon that day a pack of hungry wolves swept down the 
bleak American beach looking for a New England 
dinner, and a band of savages out for a tomahawk 
picnic hove in sight, and the Pilgrim Fathers thought 



206 



BEHOLD THE AMERICAN 207 

it best for safety and warmth to go on board the 
Mayflower and pass the night. And during the 
night there came up a strong wind blowing off shore 
that swept the Mayflower from its moorings clear 
out to sea, and there was a prospect that our Fore- 
fathers, having escaped oppression in foreign lands, 
would yet go down under an oceanic tempest. But 
the next day they fortunately got control of their 
ship and steered her in, and the second time the 
Forefathers stepped ashore. 

Brooklyn celebrated the first landing; New York the 
second landing. So I say Hail! Hail! to both cele- 
brations, for one day, anyhow, could not do justice to 
such a subject; and I only wish I could have kissed 
the blarney stone of America, which is Plymouth Rock, 
so that I might have done justice to this subject. 
Ah, gentlemen, that Mayflower was the ark that 
floated the deluge of oppression, and Plymouth Rock 
was the Ararat on which it landed. 

But all these things aside, no one sitting at these 
tables has higher admiration for the Pilgrim Fathers 
than I have — the men who believed in two great doc- 
trines, which are the foundation of every religion that 
is worth anything : namely, the fatherhood of God and 
the brotherhood of Man — these men of backbone and 
endowed with that great and magnificent attribute of 
stick-to-it-iveness. Macaulay said that no one ever 
sneered at the Puritans who had met them in halls of 
debate or crossed swords with them on the field of 
battle. They are sometimes defamed for their rigor- 
ous Sabbaths, but our danger is in the opposite direc- 



£08 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

tion of no Sabbaths at all. It is said that they des- 
troyed witches. I wish that they had cleared them 
all out, for all the world is full of witches yet, and if 
at all these tables there is a man who has not some- 
times been bewitched, let him hold up his glass of ice- 
water. It is said that these Forefathers carried 
religion into everything, and before a man kissed 
his wife he asked a blessing, and afterward said: 
"Having received another favor from the Lord, let 
us return thanks." But our great need now is more 
religion in every-day life. 

Still, take it all in all, I think the descendants of the 
Pilgrim Fathers are as good as their ancestors, and in 
many ways better. Children are apt to be an echo of 
their ancestors. We are apt to put a halo around the 
Forefathers, but I suspect that at our age the}' were 
very much like ourselves. People are not wise when 
they long for the good old days. 

But though your Forefathers may not have been 
much, if any, better than yourselves, let us extol them 
for the fact that they started this country in the right 
direction. They laid the foundation for American 
manhood. The foundation must be more solid and 
firm and unyielding than any other part of the struc- 
ture. On that Puritanic foundation we can safely 
build all nationalities. Let us remember that the 
coming American is to be an admixture of all foreign 
bloods. In about twenty-five or fifty years the 
model American will step forth. He will have the 
strong brain of the German, the polished manners of 
the French, the artistic taste of the Italian, the stanch 



BEHOLD THE AMERICAN 209 

heart of the EngHsh, the steadfast piety of the Scotch, 
the hgh tiling wit of the Irish, and when he steps forth, 
bone, muscle, nerve, brain entwined with the fibers of 
all nationalities, the nations will break out in the cry: 
"Behold the American!" 

I never realized what this country was and is as on 
the day when I first saw some of these gentlemen of the 
Army and Navy. It was when at the close of the War 
our armies came back and marched in review before 
the president's stand at Washington. I do not care 
whether a man was a Republican or a Democrat, a 
Northern man or a Southern man, if he had any emo- 
tion of nature, he could not look upon it without weep- 
ing. God knew that the day was stupendous, and He 
cleared the heaven of cloud and mist and chill, and 
sprung the blue sky as the triumphal arch for the 
returning warriors to pass under. From Arlington 
Heights the spring foliage shook out its welcome, as the 
hosts came over the hills, and the sparkling waters of 
the Potomac tossed their gold to the feet of the battal- 
ions as they came to the Long Bridge and in almost 
interminable line passed over. The capitol never 
seemed so majestic as that morning: snowy white, 
looking down upon the tides of men that came surg- 
ing down, billow after billow. Passing in silence, yet I 
heard in every step the thunder of conflicts through 
which tliey had waded, and seemed to see dripping 
from their smoke-blackened flags the blood of our 
country's martyrs. For the best part of two days we 
stood and watched the filing on of what seemed endless 
battalions, brigade after brigade, division after divis- 



210 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

ion, host after host, rank beyond rank; ever moving, 
ever passing; marching, marching; tramp, tramp, 
tramp — thousands after thousands, battery front, 
arms shouldered, columns solid, shoulder to shoulder, 
wheel to wheel, charger to charger, nostril to nostril. 

Commanders on horses with their manes entwined 
with roses, and necks enchained with garlands, frac- 
tious at the shouts that ran along the line, increasing 
from the clapping of children clothed in white, stand- 
ing on the steps of the capitol, to the tumultuous 
vociferation of hundreds of thousands of enraptured 
multitudes, crying "Huzza! Huzza!" Gleaming mus- 
kets, thundering parks of artillery, rumbling pontoon 
wagons, ambulances from whose wheels seemed to 
sound out the groans of the crushed and the dying that 
they had carried. These men came from balmy Minne- 
sota, those from Illinois prairies. These were often 
hummed to sleep by the pines of Oregon, those were 
New England lumbermen. Those came out of the 
coal-shafts of Pennsylvania. Side by side in one great 
cause, consecrated through fire and storm and dark- 
ness, brothers in peril, on their way home from Chan- 
cellorsville and Kenesaw Mountain and Fredericks- 
burg, in lines that seemed infinite they passed on. 

We gazed and wept and wondered, lifting up our 
heads to see if the end had come, but no! Looking 
from one end of that long avenue to the other, we saw 
them yet in solid column, battery front, host beyond 
host, wheel to wheel, charger to charger, nostril to 
nostril, coming as it were from under the capitol. 
Forward! Forward! Their bayonets, caught in the 



BEHOLD THE AMERICAN 211 

sun, glimmered and flashed and blazed, till they seemed 
like one long river of silver, ever and anon changed 
into a river of fire. No end to the procession, no rest 
for the eyes. We turned our heads from the scene, 
unable longer to look. We felt disposed to stop our 
ears, but still we heard it, marching, marching; tramp, 
tramp, tramp. But hush — uncover every head! Here 
they pass, the remnant of ten men of a full regiment. 
Silence! Widowhood and orphanage look on and 
wring their hands. But wheel into line, all ye people! 
North, South, East, West — all decades, all centuries, 
all millenniums! Forward, the whole line! Huzza! 
Huzza! 



THE HOLLANDER AS AN AMERICAN. 

Speech of Theodore Roosevelt at the eleventh annual dinner of the 
Holland Society of New York, January 15, 1896. 

Mr. President, Gentlemen, and Brethren of 
THE Holland Society: — I am more than touched, if 
you will permit me to begin rather seriously, by the 
way you have greeted me to-night. When I was in 
Washington, there was a story in reference to a certain 
president, who was not popular with some of his own 
people in a particular western state. One of its sena- 
tors went to the White House and said he wanted a 
friend of his appointed postmaster of Topeka. The 
president's private secretary said, "I am very sorry, 
indeed, sir, but the president wants to appoint a per- 
sonal friend." Thereupon the senator said: "Well, 
for God's sake, if he has one friend in Kansas, let him 
appoint him!" 

There have been periods during which the disseml)led 
eulogies of the able press and my relations with about 
every politician of every party and every faction have 
made me feel I would like to know whether I had one 
friend in New York, and here I feel I have many. And 
more than that, gentlemen, I should think ill of my- 
self and think that I was a discredit to the stock from 
which I sprang if I feared to go on along the path that 
I deemed right, whether I had few friends or many. 

I am glad to answer to the toast, "The Hollander as 
an American.'* The Hollander was a good American, 



212 



THE HOLLANDER AS AN AMERICAN 213 

because the Hollander was fitted to be a good citizen. 
There are two branches of government which must be 
kept on a high plane, if any nation is to be great. A 
nation must have laws that are honestly and fearlessly 
administered, and it must be ready, in time of need, to 
fight; and we men of Dutch descent have here to-night 
these gentlemen of the same blood as ourselves who 
represent New York so worthily on the bench, and a 
major-general of the army of the United States. 

It seems to me, at times, that the Dutch in America 
have one or two lessons to teach. We want to teach 
the very refined and very cultivated men who believe 
it impossible that the United States can ever be right 
in a quarrel with another nation — a little of the ele- 
mentary virtue of patriotism. And we also wish to 
teach our fellow-citizens that laws are put on the 
statute books to be enforced and that if it is not in- 
tended they shall be enforced it is a mistake to put a 
Dutchman in office to enforce them. 

The lines put on the programme underneath my 
toast begin: "America! half-brother of the world!" 
America, half-brother of the world — and all Ameri- 
cans full brothers one to the other. That is the way 
that line should be concluded. The prime virtue of 
the Hollander here in America and the way in which 
he has most done credit to his stock as a Hollander, is 
that he has ceased to be a Hollander and has become 
an American, absolutely. We are not Dutch-Ameri- 
cans. We are not "Americans" with a hpyhen be- 
fore it. We are Americans pure and simple, and we 
have a right to demand that the other people whose 

AMERICA FIRST— U. 



214 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

stocks go to compose our great nation, like ourselves, 
shall cease to be aught else and shall become Americans. 

And further than that, we have another thing to 
demand, and that is that if they do honestly and in 
good faith become Americans, those shall be regarded 
as infamous who dare to discriminate against them 
because of creed or because of birthplace. When New 
Amsterdam had but a few hundred souls, among those 
few hundred souls no less than eighteen different race- 
stocks were represented, and almost as many creeds 
as there were race-stocks, and the great contribution 
that the Hollander gave to the American people was 
the inestimable lesson of complete civil and religious 
liberty. It would be honor enough for this stock to 
have been the first to put on American soil the public 
school, the great engine for grinding out American 
citizens, the one institution for which Americans 
should stand more stiffly than for aught other. 

Whenever America has demanded of her sons that 
they should come to her aid, whether in time of peace 
or in time of war, the Americans of Dutch stock have 
been among the first to spring to the aid of the country. 
We earnestly hope that there will not in the future be 
any war with any power, but assuredly if there should 
be such a war one thing may be taken for certain, and 
that is that every American of Dutch descent will be 
found on the side of the United States. We give the 
amplest credit, that some people now, to their shame, 
grudge to the profession of arms, which we have here 
to-night represented by a man, who, when he has the 
title of a major-general of the army of the United 



THE HOLLANDER AS AN AMERICAN 215 

States, has a title as honorable as any that there is on 
the wide earth. We also need to teach the Ipsson, that 
the Hollander taught, of not refusing to do the small 
tilings because the day of large things had not yet 
come or was in the past; of not waiting until the 
chance may come to distinguish ourselves in arms, and 
meanwhile neglecting the plain, prosaic duties of 
citizenship which call upon us every hour, every day 
of our lives. 

The Dutch kept their freedom in the great contest 
with Spain, not merely because they warred valiantly, 
but because they did their duty as burghers in their 
cities, because they strove according to the light that 
was in them to be good citizens and to act as such 
And we all here to-night should strive so to live that 
we Americans of Dutch descent shall not seem to have 
shrunk in this respect, compared to our fathers who 
spoke another tongue and lived under other laws be- 
yond the ocean; so that it shall be acknowledged in 
the end to be what it is, a discredit to a man if he does 
not in times of peace do all that in him lies to make 
the government of the city, the government of the 
country, better and cleaner by his efforts. 

I spoke of the militant spirit as if it may only be 
shown in time of war. I think that if any of you gentle- 
men, no matter how peaceful you may naturally be, 
and I am very peaceful naturally, if you would under- 
take the administration of the Police Department you 
would have plenty of fighting on hand before you 
would get through; and if you are true to your blood 
you will try to do the best you can, fighting or not 



216 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

fighting. You will make up your mind that you will 
make mistakes, because you won't make anything 
if you don't make some mistakes, and you will go for- 
ward according to your lights, utterly heedless of what 
either politicians or newspapers may say, knowing 
that if you act as you feel bound according to your 
conscience to act, you will then at least have the right 
when you go out of oflfice, however soon, to feel that 
you go out without any regret, and to feel that you 
have according to your capacity, warred valiantly for 
what you deemed to be the right. 

These, then, are the qualities that I should claim 
for the Hollander as an American: In the first place, 
that he has cast himself without reservation into the 
current of American life; that he is an American, pure 
and simple, and nothing else. In the next place, that 
he works hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder with 
his fellow Americans, without any regard to differences 
of creed or to differences of race and religion, if only 
they are good Americans. In the third place, that he is 
willing, when the need shall arise, to fight for his coun- 
try ; and in the fourth place, and finally, that he recog- 
nizes that this is a country of laws and not men, that 
it is his duty as an honest citizen to uphold the laws, 
to strive for honesty, to strive for a decent adminis- 
tration, and to do all that in him lies, by incessant, 
patient work in our government, municipal or national, 
to bring about the day when it shall be taken as a mat- 
ter of course that every public official is to execute a 
law honestly, and that no capacity in a public officer 
shall atone if he is personally dishonest. 



THE ADOPTED CITIZEN 

Speech of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the 115th annual banquet of the 
Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, May 8, 1883, 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Chamber 
OF Commerce and Guests: — I am very much obliged 
to your president for calling upon me first, because the 
agony will soon be over and I shall enjoy the misery 
of the rest of you. 

The first part of this toast — The United States — 
would be a voluminous one to respond to on a single 
occasion. Bancroft commenced to publish his notes 
on the History of the United States, starting even be- 
fore President Lane established this Chamber, which 
I think was something over one hundred years ago. 
Bancroft, I say, commenced earlier, and I am not pre- 
pared to dispute his word if he should say that he had 
kept an accui-ate journal from the time he commenced 
to write about the country to the present, because 
there has been no period of time when I have been 
alive that I have not heard of Bancroft, and I should 
be equally credulous if President Lane should tell me 
that he was here at the founding of this Institution. 
But instead of bringing those volumes of Bancroft's 
here, and reading them to you on this occasion, I will 
let the reporters publish them as the prelude to what 
I am going to say. 

I think Bancroft has finished up to a little after the 
time that President Lane established this Chamber 



217 



218 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

of Commerce, and I will let you take the records of 
what he (Lane) has written and v/hat he has said in 
their monthly meetings and publish them as the second 
chapter of my speech. And, gentlemen, those two 
chapters you will find the longest; they will not 
amount to much more than what I have to say taking 
up the subject at the present time. 

But in speaking of the United States, we who are 
native-born have a country of which we may well be 
proud. Those of us who have been abroad are better 
able, perhaps, to make the comparison of our enjoy- 
ments and our comforts than those who have always 
stayed at home. It has been the fortune, I pre- 
sume, of the majority here to compare the life and 
the circumstances of the average people abroad 
with ours here. We have here a country that affords 
room for all and room for every enterprise. We have 
institutions which encourage every man who has in- 
dustry and ability to rise from the position in which 
he may find himself to any position in the land. It 
is hardl}^ worth my v^^hile to dwell upon the subject, 
but there is one point which I notice in the toast, that 
I would like to say a word about — ''May those ivho 
seek the blessings of its free institutions and the "pro- 
tection of its flag remember the obligations they im- 
pose." I think there is a text that my friend Mr. 
Beecher,^ on the left, or my friend Dr. Newman,^ on 
the right, might well preach a long sermon upon. I 
shall say only a few words. 

We offer an asylum to every man of foreign birth 

^Henry Ward Beecher. -Jt)hn P. Newman. 



THE ADOPTED CITIZEN 219 

who chooses to come here and settle upon our soil; we 
make of him, after a few years' residence only, a citizen 
endowed with all the rights that any of us have, ex- 
cept perhaps the single one of being elected to the 
presidency of the United States. There is no other 
privilege that a native, no matter what he has done 
for the country, has that the adopted citizen of five 
years' standing has not got. I contend that that 
places upon him an obligation which, I am sorry to 
say, many of them do not seem to feel. 

We have witnessed on many occasions here the for- 
eign, the adopted, citizen claiming many rights and 
privileges because he was an adopted citizen. That 
is all wrong. Let him come here and enjoy all the 
privileges that we enjoy, but let him fulfill all the obli- 
gations that we are expected to fulfill. After he has 
adopted it, let this be his countr;) — a country that he 
will fight for, and die for, if necessary. I am glad to 
say that the great majority of them do it, but some 
of them who mingle in politics seem to bank largely 
on the fact that they are adopted citizens; and that 
class I am opposed to as much as I am opposed to many 
other things that I see are popular now. 

I know that other speakers will come forward, and 
when Mr. Beecher and Dr. Newman speak. I hope 
they will saya few words on the text which I read. 




'OLD IRONSIDES"— THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION— 1812 



OUR NAVY 

Speech of Hampton L. Carson, delivered at the dinner in honor of Cap- 
tain Charles E. Clark, U. S. N., late Commander of the battleship "Oregon," 
of the Union League, Philadelphia, April 5, 1899. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Union 
League: — It was my good fortune, some eighteen 
months ago, to be in the city of Seattle, when the 
"Monterey" was lying in the harbor under the com- 
mand of Captain Clark. At the time of my visit clear 
skies, placid waters and silent guns gave little indica- 
tion of the awful responsibility that was soon to be 
imposed upon the gallant commander. My boys, 
having met him, were, like myself, intensely interested 



220 



OUR NAVY 221 

in the outcome of his voyage; and I can say to him that 
the pulsations of the engines which drove the Oregon 
through fourteen thousand miles of tropic seas were 
accompanied by the sympathetic beatings of hearts 
which had learned to love and respect this great cap- 
tain as he richly deserved. 

The American Navy! The most concise tribute that 
I ever heard paid to the sailors of the United States 
was contained in the answer of a man from Indiana, 
who was an applicant for ofRce under General Grant, 
just after the Civil Service rules had gone into opera- 
tion. The applicant was apprehensive as to his ability 
to respond to the questions, but one of his answers 
captured the board of examiners as well as the presi- 
dent, and he secured the place. The question was, 
"How many sailors did Great Britain send here, dur- 
ing the war of the Revolution, for the purpose of sub- 
duing us?" and the answer was, "More by a d 

sight than ever got back." 

When Louis XIV, in order to check what he per- 
ceived to be the growing supremacy of England upon 
the seas, determined to establish a navy, he sent lor 
his minister Colbert, and said to him, "I wish a navy — 
how can I create it !" Colbert replied, "Make as many 
galley slaves as you can." Thereupon every Hugue- 
not who refused to doff his bonnet on the street as the 
king passed by, every boy of seventeen who could 
give no account of himself, every vagrant without an 
occupation, was seized, convicted, and sent to the gal- 
leys. Could a navy of heroes be made of galley slaves ! 
The history of the Anglo-Saxon race says "No." 



222 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

On the twenty-second day of December, 1775, the 
navy of the United States was born on the waters of 
our Delaware. On that day Esek Hopkins, of Rhode 
Island, was placed in command of a little fleet of eight 
vessels — two of them ships, two of them brigs, the 
others very much smaller. The English officers 
sneered in derision at "the fleet of whaleboats." The 
rattlesnake flag — a yellow flag with a pine tree in the 
centre and a rattlesnake coiled beneath its branches, 
with the words "Don't tread on me" — was run to the 
masthead of the Providence, being hauled there by 
the hands of the first lieutenant, John Paul Jones. 
That little fleet of eight vessels, mounting only 114 
guns, was sent forth to confront a naval power of 112 
battleships with 3,714 guns — not a single gun of ours 
throwing a ball heavier than nine pounds, while five 
hundred of the English guns threw a weight of metal 
of double that amount. Wasn't it an audacious thing? 
Why, it seems to me one of the marvels of human 
history when I reflect upon what was attempted by 
the Americans of 1776. 

Look at the situation. Thirteen different colonies 
strung along a narrow strip of coast; three thousand 
miles of rolling ocean on the one side and three thou- 
sand miles of impenetrable wilderness on the other; 
colonies with infinite diversity of interests — diverse 
in blood, diverse in conditions of society, diverse in 
ambition, diverse in pursuits — the English Puritan 
on the rock of Plymouth, the Knickerbocker Dutch 
on the shores of the Hudson, the Jersey Quaker on the 
other side of the Delaware, the Swede extending from 



OUR NAVY 

here to Wilmington, Maryland bisected by our great 
bay of the Chesapeake, Virginia cut in half by the same 
water-way, North Carolina and South Carolina lying 
south of impenetrable swamps as inaccessible to com- 
munication as a range of mountains, and farther south 
the sparsely-settled colony of Georgia. Huguenot, 
Cavalier, Catholic, Quaker, Dutchman, Puritan, Men- 
nonite, Moravian, and Church of England men; and 
yet, under the hammer stroke of British oppression, 
thirteen colonies were welded into one thunderbolt, 
which was launched at the throne of George III. 

That little navy under Hopkins — where were those 
sailors bred? Read Burke's speech on the conciliation 
of America. They sprang from the loins of hardy 
fishermen amidst tumbling fields of ice on the banks 
of Newfoundland, from those who had speared whales 
in the tepid waters of Brazil, or who had pursued their 
gigantic game into the Arctic zone or beneath the light 
of the Southern Cross. That fleet of eight ships sailed 
from the Delaware on the twenty-second of Decem- 
ber, 1775, and proceeded to the island of New Provi- 
dence, among the Bahamas. Our colonies and our 
armies were without arms, without powder, without 
munitions of war. The very first exploit of the fleet 
was the capture, on the nineteenth of March, 1776, of 
150 cannon, 130 barrels of powder and eight warships, 
which were carried in triumph into Long Island Sound. 
But what of American heroism when the soldiers of 
Howe, of Clinton, of Carleton, and of Gage came here 
to fight the farmers of Pennsylvania, of Connecticut 
and Virginia, and the gay cavaliers who loved adven- 



224 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

til re? The British soldiers had conquered India under 
Sir Robert Clive and Sir Eyre Coote; they had been 
the heroes of Plassey and Pondieherry; men who had 
subjected to British dominion a country ahnost as 
extensive as our own fair repubhc and containing one 
hundred and ninety milHons of souls. Here they found 
themselves faced by men of their own blood, men in 
whose breasts burned the spirit and the love of that 
liberty which was to encircle the heavens. On the 
glory-crowned heights of Bunker Hill the patriots gazed 
at the rafters of their own burning dwellings in the town 
of Charlestown, and h^ard the cannon shots hurled 
from British ships against the base of the hill. Three 
times did scarlet regiments ascend that hill only to be 
driven back; the voice of that idiot boy, Job Pray, 
ringing out above the din of battle, "Let them come 
on to Breed's — the people will teach them the law." 

When the evacuation by the British of the metropo- 
lis of New England was effected by the troops under 
the command of a Virginia soldier. General Washing- 
ton, then for the first time did sectionalism and par- 
tisanship and divisions on narrow lines vanish; the 
patriots who had fought at Bunker Hill were now no 
longer to be known as the troops of Massachusetts, 
of Connecticut, or of Rhode Island, but henceforth it 
was the Continental Army. On the very day when 
the British were driven out of Boston, John Paul Jones, 
with that historic rattlesnake flag, and, floating above 
it, not the Stars and Stripes, but the Stripes with the 
Union Jack, entered the waters of Great Britain; and 
then it was seen that an American captain with an 



OUR NAVY 225 

American ship and American sailors had the pluck to 
push out into foreign seas and to beard the British 
lion in his den. The same channel which had witnessed 
the victories of De Ruyter and Von Tromp, which 
was the scene of Blake's victory over the Dutch, and 
where the father of our great William Penn won his 
laurels as an admiral, was now the scene of the exploits 
of an American captain fighting beneath an American 
flag for American rights inherited from old mother 
England, who, in a moment of forgetfulness, had 
sought to deprive her offspring of liberty. I know of no 
more thrilling incident in revolutionary naval annals 
than the fight between the Serapis and the Bon 
Homme Richard, when Paul Jones, on the burning 
deck of a sinking ship, lashed his yard-arms to those 
of the enemy and fought hand to hand, man to man, 
until the British colors struck, and then, under the very 
cliffs of Old England, were run up for the first time 
the Stars and Stripes — with a field of blue into which 
the skillful fingers of Betsey Ross, of Philadelphia, 
had woven inextinguishable stars; the red stripes 
typifying the glory, the valor, and the self-sacrifice of 
the men who died that liberty might live; and the 
white, emblematic of purity, fitly representing those 
principles to preserve which these men had sanctified 
themselves by an immortal self -dedication. And there, 
too, in the Continental Navy was Richard Dale, the 
young "Middy," who fought beside Paul Jones; and 
Joshua Barney; and John Barry; and Nicholas Biddle 
of Philadelphia, who later, in the gallant little Ran- 
dolph, in order to help a convoyed fleet of American 



226 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

merchantmen to escape, boldly attacked the battle- 
ship Yarmouth; and when it was found that he was 
doomed to defeat, blew up his vessel, perishing with 
all his crew, rather than strike the colors of the newly- 
born republic. 

All honor to the navy of the United States! I never 
can read of its exploits — peaceful citizen as I am — 
without my blood bubbling with a joyous sense of exul- 
tation at the thought that the flag which has swept 
the seas, carrying liberty behind it, is the flag which 
is destined to sweep the seas again and carry liberty, 
civilization, and all the blessings of free government 
into benighted islands far, far from hence. 

Why, gentlemen, the story of the exploits of our 
little fleets reads like a romance. At the end of the 
Revolutionary War eight hundred British ships, fifteen 
of them battleships, had surrendered to the prowess 
of the American navy, together with twelve thousand 
five hundred prisoners captured by less than three 
thousand men; and in that war our country had pro- 
duced the boldest admirals that, up to that time, civili- 
zation had known, and the greatest fighting naval 
heroes that the world had seen. 

Then came the war of 1812, to establish sailors' 
rights upon the high seas, when the American navy 
again proved victor despite overwhelming odds. I 
have in my possession a list of the British and Ameri- 
can vessels at the outbreak of that war; and if I were 
to represent them by something tangible in order to 
indicate the proportions of each, I would say, taking 
this box lid for example (illustrating with the stem of a 



OUR NAVY 227 

rose upon the cover of a discarded flower box), that 
if you were to draw a Hne across here, near the top, 
you would have sufficient space in the narrow strip 
above the dividing Hne to write the names of all the 
American ships, while the entire remaining space would 
not be more than sufficient for the English fleet, which 
was more than thirty times the size of its antagonist. 
The ships which under Nelson had fought at the Nile 
and had won imperishable glory at Trafalgar, coming 
into our waters, struck their flags time and again. The 
glorious old "Ironsides" (the Constitution) captured 
the Gtierriere, the Java, the Cyane, and Levant. The 
United States took the Macedonian; the Wasp de- 
stroyed the Frolic, while on the lakes we point with 
pride to the victories of Perry and McDonough. When 
battle after battle had been fought it was found that, 
of eighteen fixed engagements, seventeen were vic- 
tories for the Stars and Stripes. And this over the 
greatest maritime war power of the world! 

Philadelphia is honorably associated with the glo- 
ries of our navy. Our early battleships, though not all 
built here, were planned and constructed by Joshua 
Humphreys, a Philadelphian, the predecessor of our 
great shipbuilder of to-day, Charles H. Cramp. 

Need I speak of the navy from 1861 to 1865, or tell 
of the exploits of those gallant fleets which clove a 
pathway down the valley of the Ohio, of the Tennessee, 
and of the Mississippi, in order that liberty might ride 
un vexed from the lakes to the gulf? Need I dwell upon 
the part taken by the guest of this evening, who was 
an officer who fought under Farragut? 



228 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

In our recent war with Spain there were some who, 
in doubting moments, yielded to that atrabilious dis- 
position which has been so well described by Mr, Tom- 
kins; who thought that our ships were not strong 
enough to hazard an encounter with the fleets of Spain. 
But meanwhile there was doubling "around the Horn" 
a battleship, with a captain and a crew whose marvel- 
ous voyage was attracting the eyes of the world. Night 
after night we took up the map, traced his course from 
port to port, and our hearts beat high, our lips were 
firmly compressed, the color faded from our cheeks 
with excitement, but our eyes blazed with exultant 
anticipation as nearer and nearer to Pernambuco did 
he come. We all now feel, judging of the possibilities 
by actual achievement, that had Captain Clark en- 
countered the enemy's ships, he could and would have 
successfully fought and defeated the entire Spanish, 
fleet. He carried his ship ready for instant actions, 
every man at his post. God bless that crew! God bless 
those stokers, far down below those decks, confident 
that the captain who commanded them was on the 
bridge, and that he would never flinch nor fail in the 
hour of trial! I have often tried to draw a mental 
picture of what the scene must have been when the 
Oregon steamed in to join the fleet before Santiago; 
when the white jackets on the yard-arms tossed their 
caps in the air, and southern tars gave back to Yankee 
cheers a lusty welcome to the man who for so long, 
against all odds, with no encouraging advices, with 
unknown terrors all about him, had never flinched 
from duty, and who, when the last summons came, re- 



OUR NAVY 229 

sponded in the words of Colonel Newcomb, Adsum — 
"I am here." 

On the morning of the third of July, 1898, there 
stood the frowning Morro Castle, the prison of the 
glorious Hobson; on the other side the fortress of 
Estrella; the narrow channel blocked by the wreck of 
the Merrimac; the Brooklyn, the Oregon, the Texas, 
the Indiana, the Iowa and the Massachusetts all 
watching that orifice. Then black smoke rolled 
from the tunnels of the enemy's ships, indicating 
that the tiger had roused him from his lair and was 
making a rush for the open sea. Up went the signal 
on the flagstaff of the Brooklyn, "Forward — the 
enemy is approaching." Then engines moved; then 
guns thundered their volleys; then sky and sea be- 
came black with the smoke of battle; and swiftly 
steamed the Oregon in pursuit of the Cristobal Colon. 
Beneath well-directed shots the monster reeled, like 
a wounded athlete, to the beach; and then from 
the flagstaff of the New York were displayed those 
signals now on these walls before your eyes — "1-7-3; 
cornet; 2m-9m-7m" — which, translated, meant — and 
we of the League to-night repeat the words — "Well 
done, Oregon." 

Captain Clark, the city of Philadelphia has always 
contributed her share to the building of the navy and 
to a fitting recognition of the heroes who have com- 
manded our battleships. In the old churchyard of St. 
Mary's, on Fourth Street, sleep the bones of John 
Barry; and in the older churchyard of St. Peter's 
stands the monument to Decatur. We have with us 

AMERICA FIRST 15. 



230 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

also the ashes of Stewart, who commanded "Old Iron- 
sides" when she captured the Cyane and the Levant', 
and we have those of Bainbridge, who captured the 
Java. 

In reading of the exploits of the master spirits of the 
past, I have sometimes wondered whether we had 
men of to-day who were their equals. My answer is 
this: I say to soldiers and sailors, whether of our Civil 
War or of the late war with Spain, you are worthy of 
your sires, you have caught the inspiration of their 
glowing deeds, you have taken up the burden which 
they threw upon your shoulders, and though in time 
to come you may sleep in unmarked graves, the mem- 
ory of your deeds will live; and, like your sires, you 
have become immortal. 

To fight for liberty is indeed a privilege. "Dis- 
guise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery, thou art a 
bitter draught; and, though thousands in all ages have 
been made to drink thee, thou art no less bitter on that 
account. 'Tis thou, O Liberty ! thrice sweet and graci- 
ous goddess, whose taste is grateful, and ever will be 
so till nature herself shall change. No tint of words 
can spot thy snowy mantle, nor chemic power turn thy 
scepter into iron. With thee to smile upon him, as he 
eats his crust, the swain is happier than the monarch 
from whose courts thou art exiled." So wrote Lawrence 
Sterne. 

And then Rufus Choate: "To form and uphold a 
state, it is not enough that our judgments should be- 
lieve it to be useful; the better part of our affections 
should feel it to be lovely. It is not enough that our 



OUR NAVY 



231 



arithmetic should comi)iite its vakie and find it high; 
our hearts should hold it priceless — above all things 
rich ,and rare — dearer than health and beauty, brighter 
than all the order of the stars." In contemplating 
those mysterious dispensations of Providence by which 
the light which broke upon this continent two hundred 
years ago is now penetrating and illuminating the dark- 
est corners of the earth, it will be a supreme satisfac- 
tion for us to know that our children and our chil- 
dren's children will have set for their imitation and en- 
couragement the example of the heroism, the manliness, 
the courage, the patriotism and the modesty of the cap- 
tains of to-day. 




© Mueller. 



LATEST TYPE OF DREADNOUGHT 



THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE 

Address by William Jennings Bryan delivered in London, in the Royal 
Gallery of the House of Lords, on July 26, 1906, at the session of the 
Interparliamentary Union or Peace Congress. It is given here by special 
permission of Mr. Bryan and his publishers — Funk and Wagnalls Com- 
pany, New York and London. 

I regret that I cannot speak to you in the language 
which is usually employed in this body, but I know 
only one language, the language of my own country, 
and you will pardon me if I use that. I desire in the 
first place to express my appreciation of the courtesy 
shown me by Lord Weardale, our president, and by 
Baron von Plener, the chairman of the committee 
which framed the model treaty. The latter has framed 
this substitute embodying both of the ideas (investi- 
gation and meditation) which were presented yester- 
day. I recognize the superior wisdom and the greater 
experience of this learned committee which has united 
the two propositions, and I thank this body also for 
the opportunity to say just a word in defense of my 
part of the resolution. I cannot say that it is a new 
idea, for since it was presented yesterday I have learned 
that the same idea in substance was presented last year 
at Brussels by Mr. Bartholdt, of my own country, who 
has been so conspicuous in his efforts to promote peace, 
and I am very glad that I can follow in his footsteps 
in the urging of this amendment. T may add also that 
it is in line with the suggestion made by the honorable 



232 



THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE 233 

prime minister of Great Britain, Sir Henry Campbell- 
Bannerman, in that memorable and epoch-making 
speech of yesterday, in that speech which contained 
several sentences any one of which would have justi- 
fied the assembling of this Interparliamentary Union — 
any one of which would have compensated us all for 
coming here. In that splendid speech he expressed 
the hope that the scope of arbitration treaties might 
be enlarged. He said: 

"Gentlemen, I fervently trust that before long the 
principles of arbitration may win such confidence as to 
justify its extension to a wider field of international 
differences. We have already seen how questions 
arousing passion and excitement have attained a solu- 
tion, not necessarily by means of arbitration in the 
strict sense of the word, by referring them to such a 
tribunal as that which reported on the North Sea 
incident; and I w^ould ask you whether, it may not be 
worth while carefully to consider, before the next 
Congress meets at The Hague, the various forms in 
which differences might be submitted, with a view to 
opening the door as wide as possible to every means 
which might in any degree contribute to moderate or 
compose such differences." 

This amendment is in harmony with this suggestion. 
The resolution is* in the form of a postscript to the 
treaty, but like the postscripts to some letters it con- 
tains a very vital subject — in fact, I am not sure but 
the postscript in this case is as important as the letter 



!234! AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

itself, for it deals with those questions which have de- 
fied arbitration. Certain questions afl'eeting the honor 
or integrity of a nation are generally thought to be 
outside of tlie jurisdiction of a court of arbitration, 
and these are the (questions which have given trouble. 
Passion is not often aroused by questions that do not 
affect a nation's integrity or honor, but for fear these 
questions may arise arbitration is not always employed 
where it might be. The first advantage, then, of this 
resolution is that it secures an investigation of the facts, 
and if you can l)ut separate these facts from the ques- 
tion of honor, the ciiances are 100-to-l that you can 
settle both the fact and the question of honor without 
war. There is, therefore, a great advantage in an in- 
vestigation that brings out the facts, for disputed facts 
between nations, as between frieiuls, are the cause of 
most disagreements. 

The second advantage of this investigation is that 
it gives time for calm consideration. That has already 
been well presented by the gentlemen who has pre- 
ceded me, Baron von riener. I need not say to you 
that man excited is a ^'ery different animal from man 
calm, and that questions ought to be settled, not by 
passion, but by deliberation. If this resolution would 
do nothing else but give time for reflection and delil)era- 
tion, there would be sufficient reason for its adoption. 
If we can but stay the hand of war until conscience 
can assert itself, war will be made more remote. When 
men are mad they swagger around and tell what they 
can do; when they are calm they consider what they 
ouirht to do. 



THE PATIIIOTIHM OF I'EACE 235 

The third advantage ol' litis investigation is tliat it 
gives opportunity to mobilize pubhe opinion of the 
eonii)eHing of a peaeeful settlement and that is an 
advantage not to be overlooked. Public opinion is 
coming to be more and more a power in the world. 
One of the greatest statesmen of my country — Thomas 
Jefferson, and if it would not offend I would say I be- 
lieve him to be the greatest statesman the world has 
produced — said that if he had to choose between a 
government without newspapers and newspapers with- 
out a government, he would rather risk the news- 
l)apers without a government. You may call it an 
extravagant statement, and yet it presents an idea, and 
that idea is that public opinion is a controlling force. 
I am glad that the time is coming when public opinion 
is to be more and more powerful ; glad that the time is 
coming when the moral sentiment of one nation will 
influence the action of other nations; glad that the 
time is coming when the world will realize that a war 
between the two nations affects others than the nations 
involved; glad that the time is connng when the world 
will insist that nations settle their differences by some 
peaceful means. If time is given for the marshaling of 
the force of public opinion peace will be promoted. 
This resolution is presented, therefore, for the reasons 
that it gives an opportunity to investigate the facts, 
aijd to separate them from the question of honor, that it 
gives time for the calming of passion, and that it gives 
time for the formation of a controlluig public senti- 
ment. 

I will not disguise the fact that I consider this reso- 



236 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

lution a long step in the direction of peace, nor will I 
disguise the fact that I am here because I want this 
Interparliamentary Union to take just as long a step 
as possible in the direction of universal peace. We 
meet in a famous hall, and looking down upon us from 
these walls are pictures that illustrate not only the 
glory that is to be won in war, but the horrors that 
follow war. There is a picture of one of the great 
figures in English history (pointing to the fresco by 
Maclise of the death of Nelson) . Lord Nelson is repre- 
sented as dying, and around him are the mangled forms 
of others. I understand that war brings out certain 
virtues. I am aware that it gives opportunity for the 
display of great patriotism; I am aware that the ex- 
ample of men who give their lives for their country is 
inspiring; but I venture to say there is as much in- 
spiration in a noble life as there is in a heroic death, 
and I trust that one of the results of this Interparlia- 
mentary Union will be to emphasize the doctrine that 
a life devoted to the public, and ever flowing, like a 
spring, with good, exerts an influence upon the human 
race and upon the destiny of the world as great as any 
death in war. And if you will permit me to mention 
one whose career I watched with interest and whose 
name I revere, I will say that, in my humble judg- 
ment, the sixty-four years of spotless public service of 
William Ewart Gladstone will, in years to come, be 
regarded as rich an ornament to the history of this 
nation as the life of any man who poured out his blood 
upon a battlefield. 

All movements in the interest of peace have back 
of them the idea of brotherhood. If peace is to come 



THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE 237 

in this world, it will come because people more and 
more clearly recognize the indissoluble tie that binds 
each human being to every other. If we are to build 
permanent peace it must be on the foundation of the 
brotherhood of men. A poet has described how in the 
Civil War that divided our country into two hostile 
camps a generation ago — in one battle a soldier in the 
opposing line, and how, when he stooped to draw it 
out, he recognized in the faces of the fallen one the face 
of his own brother. And then the poet describes the 
feeling of horror that overwhelmed the survivor when 
he realized that he had taken the life of one who was 
the child of the same parents and the companion of 
his boyhood. It was a pathetic story, but is it too 
much to hope that as years go by we will begin to 
understand that the whole human race is but a larger 
family? 

It is not too much to hope that as years go by human 
sympathy will expand until this feeling of unity will 
not be confined to the members of a family or to the 
members of a clan or of a community or state, but 
shall be world-wide. It is not too much to hope that 
we, in this assembly, possibly by this resolution, may 
hasten the day when we shall feel so appalled at the 
thought of the taking of any human life that we shall 
strive to raise all questions to a level where the settle- 
ment will be by reason and not by force. 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE 

The following extracts are from an address delivered by George W. 
Norris, United States senator from Nebraska, at Chautauquas and on 
lecture courses throughout the country for several years. It is one of 
the most logical and practical plans for universal peace ever proposed. 
It was prepared when the civilized world was at peace immediately 
following the peace treaty between Russia and Japan. David Starr 
Jordan declares that "military efficiency" is the principal cause of the 
present European war. A serious and honest study of how to preserve 
peace and how to avoid war cannot help but bring good results. This 
is the purpose of Senator Norris's lecture. For a further study of this 
most important subject, the reader is referred to Sumner's great oration 
on "The True Grandeur of Nations," to various speeches and mono- 
graphs by Andrew Carnegie, and to numerous other publications, 
recently issued, regarding the patriotism of peace. 

The greatest disgrace of the present century is that 
war between civihzed nations is still a possibility. 
That such a barbarous condition should exist in the 
civilized world is painful to every lover of humanity 
and to every believer m the great brotherhood of man. 

Every civilized country of the world requires its 
subjects to submit their differences and disputes to 
tribunals and courts that have been organized under 
the forms of law for their settlement and yet these 
same nations violate the principle of law which they 
compel their subjects to obey. The citizen must main- 
tain his rights and settle his grievances before tribunals 
organized according to law, upon principles of justice 
and of right. Kings and rulers settle their disputes 
upon the field of battle without regard to right, with- 
out regard to justice, and upon the erroneous and bar- 

238 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE 239 

barous theory that might makes right. It is to be 
regretted that the great advance that has been made 
from barbarism by the different nations of the world 
by which the disputes and controversies arising within 
each nation are settled according to forms of law upon 
the principles of justice and equality, has not extended 
to the settlement of disputes between the nations 
themselves. Why is it that rulers, who are able to 
settle all controversies within the countries they con- 
trol are not able to settle controversies between those 
countries? 

Humanity is broader than nationality and embraces 
within its scope the entire world. The measure of 
human happiness will not be full, the heights of national 
glory will not be reached until we can look over the 
world and in the words of the scripture, truthfully say 
of every citizen of every civilized nation — "Is he not 
after all, my brother.'^" 

Why then should there be war? I know that it can 
truthfully be claimed that this cruel and heartless 
demon has settled many questions of world-wide im- 
portance, but it never settled one on any principle of 
equity, morality, or justice. In modern times its de- 
cree has been more often right than wrong, because 
the great spirit of public sentiment when once aroused 
has not only furnished money and men for the right, 
but it has thoroughly imbued the hearts of its soldiers 
with a determination and a bravery that have done 
much to place the victory where it properly belonged. 
But what a sacrifice of human life and treasure. I do 
not want to be understood as claiming that all the 



240 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

wars of history were wrong or could have been avoided. 
Some of them were carried on for liberty, some were 
waged for mercy and some were fought for humanity. 
The soldier, not only of our own land, but of other 
countries as well, is entitled to all the consideration 
and all the honor and glory that humanity can give or 
bestow. I am however proclaiming against the con- 
ditions existing in modern civilized times that make 
war not only sometimes necessary, but at any time 
possible. 

But the question recurs again — what is a practical 
way to solve the difficulty? Who shall take the first 
step.'* Who can take the first step with the assurance 
that beneficial results will follow .f* What nation to-day 
occupies such a unique position in civilization that it 
can step out into the open and say to all the civilized 
world — ^"We are willing to submit to peaceful arbitra- 
tion every international dispute, every international 
controversy not only of the present but of the future as 
well." What nation in assuming this position 
can command not only the respect and behef of 
other nations in the integrity and the honesty of 
its purpose, but can also receive the respect and ap- 
proval of humanity's peace loving sentiment, that 
will go far towards impelling the balance of the civ- 
ilized world to accept the proffered hand of universal 
brotherhood ! 

If we study the history of European nations, we will 
find a trace at least of jealousy between them that has 
come down from the days of barbarism. In ancient 
times the king, who was then supposed to possess, and 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE 241 

is still suspicioned to have, some attributes of Divinity, 
ruled only over such territory as he was able to hold 
in subjection. He broke no law of nations if, without 
notice, cause or provocation, he made war upon his 
neighbor in an attempt to conquer and subdue addi- 
tional territory. He violated no principle of govern- 
ment if in carrying out his purpose he resorted to trick- 
ery, chicanery, and dishonesty. The result was that 
every ruler was suspicious of every other ruler. 

This suspiciousness and lack of confidence anciently 
existing between kings, and permeating the frame- 
work of every European nation, has, in a lessening 
and decreasing degree, come down to the present day. 
It exists now — unconsciously perhaps — but exists 
nevertheless, and must be taken into consideration 
whenever any European nation makes a proposition 
to other European nations for the settlement of any 
great international question. This condition was well 
paraphrased by a great European statesman in com- 
paring European conditions with those of America, 
when he referred to it as American boldness and 
European suspiciousness. 

In the new world where our government's leadership 
and controlling influence are recognized and acknowl- 
edged by all the world, these conditions do not obtain. 
Here the divine right of kings has never been recog- 
nized. We have not only disclaimed the right of con- 
quest ourselves, but we have refused to recognize it in 
others. We have not only refused to recognize this 
right in the strong nation, but we have protected the 
weak nation against it. Moreover we have shown to 



242 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

the world our unselfish devotion to that principle to 
the extent of sacrificing life and treasure in the defense 
of the weak against the strong — the protection of the 
down-trodden and oppressed against oppression. Our 
entire national life has been emblematic of an unselfish 
respect for the rights of other nations, and is not tainted 
with that suspiciousness which has come down to 
others from ancient times. Our position among the 
nations of the world was well illustrated by what 
happened in the war between Russia and Japan. 

When these two great nations had gotten each 
other by the throat and were struggling in mortal 
combat, the entire world was aroused to admiration 
by the action of America's great president. Neither 
one of the warring nations had expressed any desire 
for peace. Neither one had shown any disposition 
to cease the conflict. Neither one had asked for any 
intercession, and yet in the midst of the bloody con- 
flict, when America's voice was heard, they both 
halted, they both ceased, and they both obeyed. 

It was because they knew — all the world knew — 
that in the voice which called them from the battle- 
field to reason's court there was no taint of selfish- 
ness; that in that call there was no suspicion of an 
ulterior or dishonorable motive, but that in the heart 
of the great statesman, whose voice they heeded, 
there was only the purity of a humane effort to bring 
about the welfare of all. From the very nature 
of the development of other nations from the bar- 
barism of ancient times it is quite apparent that 
no other ruler of the civilized world could have made 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE 243 

that proposition with the same successful results. 
In response to the friendly intervention of the Am- 
erican Government, Russia and Japan appointed 
commissioners to agree upon terms of peace. 

While these commissioners were in session on Ameri- 
can soil, a notable assemblage for the advancement 
of international arbitration was in session at Brussels, 
the capital of Belgium. At this meeting of the Inter- 
parliamentary Union there were representatives from 
practically every civilized country in the world except 
Russia and Japan. We watched with hopeful anxiety 
the reports which the cable brought us of the progress 
that was being made by these peace commissioners at 
Portsmouth. In that assemblage, composed of repre- 
sentatives from two continents, there was a unani- 
mous wish, a united hope, a fervent prayer that Ameri- 
ca's intervention would prove successful. 

As a fitting close of that great international con- 
ference the representatives of Belgium invited all 
the delegates to a reception held in that historic 
building where the cohorts of Napoleon were assem- 
bled in revelry on the eve of Waterloo. The rooms 
were decorated with the colors of all nations. The 
finest band of Belgium was playing her national air. 
In the midst of it the music suddenly ceased. All eyes 
were turned to the rostrum. We saw the leader of the 
band seize from the decorations of the hall the Am- 
erican flag, and using it as a baton, he waved it over 
the heads of the musicians, and in answer to his action 
there burst forth the rapturous strains of the Star 
Spangled Banner. 



244 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

For a moment, and a moment only, there was silence, 
and then there burst forth a roar of applause which 
clearly indicated that everyone there understood, 
that beneath the fathomless deep the electric spark 
had brought the welcome news that on the shores 
of America an agreement for peace had been signed. 
On the occasion of nearly one hundred years before 
the revelry was interrupted by the booming of cannon, 
but on this occasion it was the joyous message that 
under the leadership of America the peace of the world 
had been established. That was an Occasion, my 
countrymen, when it was greater to be an American 
citizen than to wear a crown. 

Heretofore one of the greatest obstacles to the peace- 
ful settlement of international diflficulties, and to the 
submission of such controversies to arbitration, has 
been that the offense has been committed, or the con- 
troversy has arisen before any rule for its settlement 
has been provided, or any tribunal for its determination 
has been selected. This ex post facto machinery for 
the settlement of differences is not only unreasonable 
and illogical, but it has been guarded against by all 
the civilized nations of the earth in the regulation and 
management of their own internal affairs. When dis- 
agreeing nations are aroused to anger by the excite- 
ment and the prejudice of the people on account of 
real or imaginary wrong, it is a poor time indeed to 
attempt to agree upon a fair method of settlement, 
or to exercise that calm deliberation which should be 
invoked in the selection of the arbitrators. 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE 245 

The treaty of arbitration should be general and apply 
to all disputes. It should be negotiated in time of pro- 
found peace, and not with reference to any particular 
controversy. Its judges should be selected in time of 
peace and their terms of office should be permanent. 
In order that they might be removed from, and unin- 
fluenced by, any bias or prejudice they should be ap- 
pointed for life, and while holding this great inter- 
national commission they should be prohibited from 
accepting or holding any other office or emolument 
from any government. 

The treaty however, should specifically provide that 
these international judges could be appointed and 
selected as members of any other international arbi- 
tration tribunal, and in accordance with this provision 
each government would undoubtedly select the same 
men as judges for each arbitration treaty into which 
it entered. 

To illustrate — if our government entered into such a 
treaty with the German empire, and afterwards into 
a similar treaty with France, we would select the 
same arbitrators under the treaty with France that 
we had named in carrying out the provisions of the 
treaty wdth Germany, and in any subsequent arbitra- 
tion treaty with any other nation, the same men would 
again be named as our arbitrators. There is little 
doubt but what all other nations would pursue a 
similar course. 

This would give us an international court that would 
command the absolute respect of all mankind and the 
confidence of all civilization. Its judges would be free 

AMERICA FIRST 16. 



246 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

from any bias, prejudice or excitement that might ex- 
ist in either one or both of the contending nations. 
Instead of representing one government as against 
the other they would in fact, without partiahty and 
with equal justice, represent both of the contending 
parties. Their life work would be the study of inter- 
national questions. They would become learned — 
yea, experts — in international law and the adminis- 
tration of international justice. If each nation selected 
the same judges in each of its arbitration treaties, the 
world would have a list — a school — of international 
jurists devoting their time, their energies and their 
lives to the study of international questions and the 
settlement of international disputes. In the hands 
of these men the peace of the civilized world would 
be safe and secure. 

The treaty of arbitration would undoubtedly pro- 
vide for an equal number of arbitrators from each of 
the contracting parties. It likewise would, and un- 
doubtedly should, provide for the selection of addi- 
tional members of the court in cases where the judges 
were equally divided on any question submitted to 
them. A wise provision would be to let the pei-manent 
judges themselves select the additional arbitrators, 
and with this list of great international jurists from 
which to make a choice, how small the possibility of 
error, and how great would be the probability of a wise 
selection. As a matter of fact it would seldom be nec- 
essary for this provision of the treaty to be acted on. 
Not once in a lifetime would the members of such a 
court be divided along the lines of nationality. The 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE 247 

judges of this court, occupying this dignified, exalted 
and unparalleled position before the world, would be 
farther removed from bias and prejudice than any 
court that has ever been instituted in the history of 
mankind. Its decisions would become precedents for 
future action. It would not be long until we would 
have a line of decisions, that would eliminate the un- 
certainty of international law which has existed in 
the past. A question once determined by this great 
court would be accepted by the world as the law for 
the future, and the result would be that we would 
not only have an international tribunal for the peace- 
ful settlement and determination of all international 
questions, but their decisions would become the beacon 
lights of peace for future generations, whose rays of 
wisdom and of reason would light up the dark waters 
of international jurisprudence, mark out the course 
of safety for every ship of state, and warn her mariners 
of the shoals of disaster. 

There is no ground whatever for the beKef which 
prevails somewhat that the members of such a court 
would always follow the contention of their own country. 
Even under the present cumbersome and illogical 
method of selecting arbitrators we have a recent illus- 
tration that men great enough to fill positions of this 
kind, realizing the dignity and responsibility of the 
position, will rise above the clamor of their own 
countrymen and decide the question at issue upon its 
merits. I refer to the Alaskan boundary dispute be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain. We have 
also an illustration of this point in our own country. 



248 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

Our national government is eompovsed of sovereign 
states. State pride is an attribute of practically all 
our citizens. Its influence has compelled men to hon- 
estly do all kinds of unreasonable things. For it men 
have given up their property and sacrificed their lives. 
Yet this prejudice has never reached our judiciary. 
Every United States judge is a citizen of some state. 
They try cases between different states, pass on dis- 
putes existing between a sovereign state and the cit- 
izens of another state, and settle controversies arising 
between the citizens of one state and the citizens of 
another state. Our judges have been criticized on 
nearly all possible grounds, often no doubt without 
reason, sometimes perhaps with good cause, but in 
the entire history of our country, there has never yet 
been made the charge that any one of these judges has 
been influenced in his official conduct by pride of his 
native or adopted state. Man is often unconsciously 
influenced and controlled by his associations, his habits 
and the environments of earlier life. Their influence 
has become a part of the man. But the history of 
jurisprudence will show that judges have seldom, if 
ever, been moved or influenced in official action by the 
excitement, the clamor or the prejudice of the citizen- 
ship if it was beyond the power of that citizenship to 
reward or punish. 

It is unnecessary to provide any method for the en- 
forcement of the decrees of an international court. It 
is safe to trust to the honor of the governments inter- 
ested, and to the enlightened public sentiment of the 
civilized world for the honest enforcement in good 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE 249 

faith of every such judgment and decree. This has 
been frequently demonstrated in the past. In all the 
history of the world there has never been an instance 
where an offending nation has failed to carry out in 
good faith the judgment of an international court. 

In America the friends of international arbitration 
are not united as they should be. The division comes 
about principally on account of a disagreement as to 
what should be the size of our navy. There are some 
who believe that we should make but a small annual 
increase in our navy, and some of these are inclined to 
criticize those who advocate a large navy and to claim 
that such conduct is inconsistent with international 
arbitration. Wliile I have been one of those who usu- 
ally have favored a small yearly increase m our naval 
vessels, yet I am frank to admit that under present 
conditions, there is much sound logic in the argument 
that the greatest and best assurance of international 
l)eace, is to be always prepared for war. It is well too, 
to remember that an unbiased and unprejudiced tri- 
bunal in a foreign land has recently given an inter- 
national troj^hy — the world's prize — to the greatest 
American ex]Donent of a large navy, for having during 
the year for which the prize was given, accomplished 
more for international peace, than any other living 
man. It is not my intention to discuss this subject. 
It is not necessary to decide it for the purposes of the 
present discussion. It is of importance when consider- 
ing the subject of national defense and national finan- 
ces, but it has no decisive influence upon the question 
of international arbitration. The man who favors a 



250 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

small navy, and the man who favors a large one can 
consistently work side by side for the advancement 
of international peace. The size of the navy that we 
should maintain is a question upon which the minds 
of wise and patriotic men may honestly differ. Every- 
body admits that we should keep and maintain an 
ample and sufficient navy, and that annual additions 
thereto are necessary to maintain its efficiency. But, 
the terms "adequate navy," "sufficient navy" and 
"large navy" are very indefinite, and convey entirely 
different ideas to different people. What one man 
might regard as a small navy, another one equally as 
wise would regard as entirely too large. What one 
person would consider a small and inadequate annual 
addition to our navy, others, equally as patriotic, 
would regard as unreasonable and extravagant. A 
man's ideas on this disputed and unsettled question 
can not consistently be urged against the sincerity 
of his purpose when he advocates international ar- 
bitration. 

But while the friends of international arbitration 
may honestly disagree as to the strength of the army 
and the size of the navy that should be maintained 
in times of peace, there is no disagreement in the con- 
demnation of the conditions which make it necessary 
to maintain a large army and navy. These conditions 
are relics of barbarism. They are not founded upon 
any wisdom, reason, or justice. They exist only be- 
cause the great men of to-day, who hold the destinies 
of nations in their hands have not met upon the broad 
plane of equality and agreed u])on their abolishment. 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL, PEACE 251 

Heretofore the cry of international arbitration has 
come mainly from those who were moved by the idea 
of philanthropy, of mercy and of humanity. It will 
not be long until these influences will be joined by all 
the commercial interests of civilization and all the tax- 
payers of the world. For the fiscal year (1907) in our 
own country there was appropriated from the national 
treasury nearly four hundred millions of dollars on 
account of war. Over sixty-five per cent, of the rev- 
enues of our national government are spent on account 
of our wars of the past, or in preparation for war in 
the future. Every time our government raises a dollar 
by taxation more than sixty-five cents of it is demanded 
as a tribute by this blood-thirsty demon. 

Our situation is only a fair illustration of what exists 
everywhere in the world. In round numbers about 
one-half of the money raised by taxation in the leading 
civilized nations of the world is spent, either in the 
payment of obligations of past wars, or in the prepara- 
tion for war in the future. The expense of this prepara- 
tion is increasing at a wonderful rate. Our govern- 
ment expends about the same amount of money as the 
other leading nations of the world in the preparation 
for war in the future, but for the expenses of wars that 
are past it expends more than all the other nations 
combined. The expenses of our past wars, consisting 
chiefly and mainly of pensions, are just, and no one 
would cut them down, excepting as they will be cur- 
tailed by the hand of Time as he gathers into his fold 
our heroes of the past. We will therefore eliminate 
the past from the financial consideration of the ques- 
tion. During a single year of peace. Great Britain, 



252 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

Germany, France, and the United States spent nearly 
one billion of dollars in making preparation for war. 
All the money in the United States would only pay 
this enormous expense for a little more than two 
years. The people of these highly civilized countries, 
while in profound peace, were taxing themselves to 
death, in order that the survivors might kill each other 
according to the most modern methods of modern 
warfare with the most modern weapons of human 
destruction. 

As startling and astounding as these figures are, 
they do not tell one half of the story. Human 
life cannot be measured in dollars and cents; broken 
hearts cannot be healed by the ai)propriation of 
money; human suffering and misery cannot be 
alleviated by financial consideration, and humanity 
stands helpless in the face of death and destruction. 
At the fireside of practically every home in Christen- 
dom, there is a vacant chair, made so by war. For 
every vacant chair there was a ruined hearthstone; 
for every hearthstone there was a sorrowing widow; 
and for every widow there is a fatherless child. For 
every penny spent for war there is a sigh of grief; for 
every shilling there is a tear of sorrow; and for every 
dollar there is a broken heart. The amount expended 
on this account in the civilized world, in one year 
would give shelter to every pauper, a home to every 
unfortunate, and an education to every child. At the 
present rate of increasing expense it will not be long 
until this great chain will break of its own weight; un- 
til every nation will become bankrupt and every tax- 



A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE 253 

payer will become a pauper. As this time approaches, 
the forces of international peace will become more 
numerous and more powerful. Humanity will shake 
off the shackles of barbarism and defy the God of War 
upoii his throne. In this battle of reason, that tyrant 
of oppression, that ruler of ignorance, that demon of 
superstition, in whose decree there is no mercy, in 
whose judgment there is no justice, will be driven from 
his throne, and relegated beyond the portals of a uni- 
versal peace, to be remembered only as a horrible 
nightmare of an unholy and an unrighteous past. 



LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought 
forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in 
liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men 
are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great 
civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation 
so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. 

We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We 
have come to dedicate a portion of that field as the 
final resting-place for those who here gave their lives 
that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting 
and proper that we should do this. But in a larger 
sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we 
cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living 
and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far 
above our power to add or detract. The world will 
little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but 
it can never forget what they did here. 

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to 
the unfinished work which they who fought here have 
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be 
here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, 
that from these honored dead we take increased devo- 
tion to that cause for which they here gave the last 
full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve 
that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this 
nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, 
and that government of the people, by the people, and 
for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

255 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S NEUTRALITY 
PROCLAMATION 

This proclamation is in strict keeping with Washington's counsel. It 
is one of the greatest of President Wilson's state papers and probably did 
more than any one act of his administration in keeping the United States 
from becoming involved in the European war. 

My Fellow Countrymen: — I suppose that every 
thoughtful man in America has asked himself, during 
these last troubled weeks, what influence the European 
war may exert upon the United States, and I take the 
liberty of addressing a few words to you in order to 
point out that it is entirely within our own choice what 
its effects upon us will be and to urge very earnestly 
upon you the sort of speech and conduct which will 
best safeguard the Nation against distress and disaster. 

The effect of the war upon the United States will de- 
pend upon what American citizens say and do Every 
man who really loves America will act and speak in the 
true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of imparti- 
ality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned. 
The spirit of the Nation in this critical matter will be 
determined largely by what individuals and society 
and those gathered in public meetings do and say, upon 
what newspapers and magazines contain, upon what 
ministers utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as 
their opinions on the street. 

The people of the United States are drawn from 
many nations, and chiefly from the nations now at 
war. It is natural and inevitable that there should be 

256 



NEUTRALITY PROCLAMATION 257 

the utmost variety of sympathy and desire among 
them with regard to the issues and circumstances of 
the conflict. Some will wish one nation, others 'another, 
to succeed in the momentous struggle. It will be easy 
to excite passion and diflScult to allay it. Those re- 
sponsible for exciting it will assume a heavy responsi- 
bility, responsibility for no less a thing than that the 
people of the United States, whose love of their coun- 
try and whose loyalty to its government should unite 
them as Americans all, bound in honor and affection 
to think first of her and her interests, may be divided 
in camps of hostile opinion, hot against each other, in- 
volved in the war itself in impulse and opinion if not 
in action. 

Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace 
of mind and might seriously stand in the way of the 
proper performance of our duty as the one great nation 
at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a 
part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of 
peace and accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a 
friend. 

I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen, to 
speak a solemn word of warning to you against that 
deepest, most subtle, most essential breach of neu- 
trality which may spring out of partisanship, out of 
passionately taking sides. The United States must 
be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days 
that are to try men's souls. We must be impartial in 
thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our 
sentiments as well as upon every transaction that 
might be construed as a preference of one party to 



258 AMERICAN PATRIOTISM 

the struggle before another. 

My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel 
sure, the earnest wish and purpose of every thoughtful 
American that this great country of ours, which is, of 
course, the first in our thoughts and in our hearts, 
should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a 
Nation fit beyond others to exhibit the fine poise of 
undisturbed judgment, the dignity of self-control, the 
efficiency of dispassionate action; a Nation that 
neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed 
in her own counsels and which keeps herself fit and 
free to do what is honest and disinterested and truly 
serviceable for the peace of the world. 

Shall we not resolve to put upon ourselves the re- 
straints which will bring to our people the happiness 
and the great and lasting influence for peace we covet 
for them.f* 

August 18, 1914. 



POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 



(259) 




T-SSjj^ 



3»,*if«; 



\, < , i' 



i^& _) 



H 






Ji?:.„,^^,Var I 




(260) 



THE STATUE OF LIBERTY 
New York Harbor 




THE CONCORD HYMN^ 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, 

Here once the embattled farmers stood, 
And fired the shot heard round the world. 

The foe long since in silence slept; 

Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; 
And Time the ruined bridge has swept 

Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. 

On the green bank, by this soft stream. 

We set to-day a votive stone; 
That memory may their dead redeem, 

When, like our sires, our sons are gone. 

Spirit, that made those heroes dare 
To die, and leave their children free. 

Bid Time and Nature gently spare 
The shaft we raise to them and thee. 

' By Ralph Waldo Emerson, at the dedication, April 19, 1836, of the 
monument erected at Concord in honor of the patriots who fell in the 
battle of Lexington sixty one years before. 

261 

AMERICA FIRST 17. 



262 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 



WARREN'S ADDRESS 

Stand! the ground's your own, my braves! 
Will ye give it up to slaves? 
Will ye look for greener graves? 

Hope ye mercy still? 
What's the mercy despots feel? 
Hear it in that battle peal! 
Read it on yon bristling steel! 

Ask it^ye who will. 

Fear ye foes who kill for hire? 
Will ye to your homes retire? 
Look behind you! — they're afire! 

And, before you, see 
Who have done it! From the vale 
On they come! — and will ye quail? 
Leaden rain and iron hail 
Let their welcome be! 

In the God of battles trust! 
Die we may — and die we must; 
But, oh, where can dust to dust 

Be consigned so well, 
As where heaven its dews shall shed 
On the martyred patriot's V)ed, 
And the rocks shall raise their head. 

Of his deeds to tell? 

John Pierpont 



PATRIOTISM 263 

PATRIOTISM 

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 

This is my own, may native land ! 
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 

From wandering on a foreign strand ! 
If such there breathe, go, mark him well; 
For him no minstrel raptures swell; 
High though his titles, proud his name, 
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; 
Despite those titles, powder, and pelf. 
The wretch, concentered all in self, 
Living, shall forfeit fair renown. 
And, doublj^ dying, shall go down 
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung. 
Unwept, unhonored, and unsimg. 

Sir Walter Scott 

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER 

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last 

gleaming. 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the 

perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly 

streaming? 
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air. 
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still 

there : 



264 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

Oh, say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ? 

On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the 

deep, 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep. 
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses ! 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam. 
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream: 
'Tis the Star Spangled Banner Oh, long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore 
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion 
A home and a country should leave us no more ! 
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pol- 
lution; 
No refuge should save the hireling and slave 
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave: 
And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Oh, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand 
Between their loved homes and war's desolation. 
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued 

land 
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a 

nation. 
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. 
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust": 



MY COUNTRY 265 

And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

,- Francis Scott Key 

MY COUNTRY 

My country, 'tis of thee. 
Sweet land of liberty, 

Of thee I sing. 
Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the pilgrims' pride, 
From every mountain side 

Let freedom ring ! 

M-j native country ! Thee- 
Land of the noble free, — 

Thy name I love; 
I love thy rocks and rills, 
Thy woods and templed hills; 
My heart with rapture thrills 

Like that above. 

Let music swell the breeze, 
And ring from all the trees 

Sweet freedom's song. 
Let mortal tongues awake; 
Let all that breathe partake; 
Let rocks their silence break, — 

The sound prolong. 

Our fathers' God, to Thee, 
Author of liberty, 

To Thee we sing; 



26G POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

Long .may our land be bright 
Witli freedom's holy light; 
Protect us by Thy might. 
Great God, our King ! 

Samuel ¥. Smith 

THE AMERICAN FLAG 

When Freedom, from her mountain height, 
' Unfurled her standard to the air, 
She tore the azure robe of night, 

And set the stars of glory there. 
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes 
The milky baldric of the skies, 
And striped its pure celestial white 
With streakings of the morning light. 

Then, from his mansion in the sun. 
She called her eagle bearer down. 
And gave into his mighty hand 
The symbol of her chosen land. 
Flag of the free heart's hope and home. 

By angel hands to valor given ! 
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, 

And all thy hues were born in heaven. 

Forever float that standard sheet ! 

Where breathes the foe but falls before us, 
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, 

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us ! 

Joseph Rodman Drake 



SONG OF Marion's men 267 



SONG OF INIARION'S MEN 

Our band is few but true and tried. 

Our leader frank and bold; 
The British soldier trembles 

When Marion's name is told. 
Our fortress is the good greenwood. 

Our tent the cypress tree; 
We know the forest round us, 

As seamen know the sea. 
We know its walls of thorny vines, 

Its glades of reedy grass. 
Its safe and silent islands 

Within the dark morass. 

Woe to the English soldiery 

That little dread us near! 
On them shall light at midnight 

A strange and sudden fear 
When, waking to their tents on fire. 

They grasp their arms in vain, 
And they who stand to face us 

Are beat to earth again; 
And they who fly in terror deem 

A mighty host behind, 
And hear the tramp of thousands 

Upon the hollow wind. 

Then sweet the hour that brings release 
From danger and from toil: 



268 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

We talk the battle over, 

And share the battle's spoil. 
The woodland rings with laugh and shout, 

As if a hunt were up, 
And woodland flowers are gathered 

To crown the soldier's cup. 
With merry songs we mock the wind 

That in the pine-top grieves, 
And slumber long and sweetly 

On beds of oaken leaves. 

Well knows the fair and friendly moon 

The band that Marion leads — 
The glitter of their rifles. 

The scampering of their steeds. 
'Tis life to guide the fiery barb 

Across the moonlight plain; 
'Tis life to feel the night wind 

That lifts his tossing mane. 
A moment in the British camp — 

A moment — and away. 
Back to the pathless forest, 

Before the peep of day. 

Grave men there are by broad Santee, 
Grave men with hoary hairs; 

Their hearts are all with Marion, 
For Marion are their prayers. 

And lovely ladies greet our band. 
With kindliest welcoming, 

With smiles like those of summer. 
And tears like those of spring. 



THE OLD CONTINENTALS 269 

For then we wear these trusty arms, 

And lay them down no more 
Till we have driven the Briton, 

Forever from our shore. 

William CuUen Bryant 



THE OLD CONTINENTALS 

In their ragged regimentals 
Stood the old Continentals, 

Yielding not, 
When the grenadiers were lunging, 
And like hail fell the plunging 
Cannon shot; 
When the files 
Of the isles. 
From the smoky night encampment, bore the banner 
of the rampant 

Unicorn ; 
And grummer, grummer, grummer, rolled the roll of 
the drummer 

Through the morn! 

Then with eyes to the front all, 
And with guns horizontal, 

Stood our sires; 
And the balls whistled deadly. 
And in streams flashing redly. 

Blazed the fires: 

As the roar 

On the shore 



270 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

Swept the strong battle breakers o'er the green- 
sodded acres 

Of the plain; 
And louder, louder, louder, cracked the black gun- 
powder. 

Cracking amain! 

Now like smiths at their forges 
Worked the red St. George's 

Cannoneers, 
And the villainous saltpetre 
Rung a fierce, discordant meter 
Round their ears; 
As the swift 
Storm drift. 
With hot sweeping anger, came the horseguards' 
clangor 

On our flanks; 
Then higher, higher, higher, burned the old-fashioned 
fire 

Through the ranks! 

Then the bareheaded colonel 
Galloped through the white infernal 

Powder cloud; 
And his broadsword was swinging, 
And his brazen throat was ringing 

Trumpet-loud; 

Then the blue 

Bullets flew. 
And the trooper jackets redden at the touch of the 
leaden 



THE SWORD OF BUNKER HILL 271 

Rifle breath; 
And rounder, rounder, rounder, roared the iron six- 
pounder, 

Hurling death! 

Guy Humphreys McMasler 



THE SWORD OF BUNKER HILL 

He lay upon his dying bed; 

His eyes was growing dim, 
When with a feeble voice he called 

His weeping son to him: 
'Weep not, my boy!" the vet'ran said, 

"I bow to Heaven's high will — 
But quickly from yon antlers bring 

The sword of Bunker Hill." 

The sword was brought, the soldier's eye 

Lit with a sudden flame; 
And as he grasped the ancient blade, 

He murmured Warren's name; 
Then said, "My boy, I leave you gold — 

But what is richer still, 
I leave you, mark me, mark me now — 

The sword of Bunker Hill. 

'T was on that dread, immortal day, 

I dared the Briton's band, 
A captain raised this blade on me — 
I tore it from his hand; 



272 POETRY OF I'ATRIOTISM 

And while the glorious battle raged. 

It lightened freedom's will — 
For, boy, the God of freedom blessed 

The sword of Bunker Hill. 

"Oh, keep the sword!" — his accents broke — 

A smile — and he was dead — 
But his wrinkled hand still grasped the blade 

Upon that dying bed. 
The son remains; the sword remains — 

Its glory growing still — 
And twenty millions bless the sire, 

And sword of Bunker Hill. 

William Ross Wallace 



LIBERTY TREEi 

In a chariot of light from the regions of day, 

The Goddess of Liberty came; 
Ten thousand celestials directed the way. 

And hither conducted the dame. 
A fair budding branch from the gardens above, 

Where millions with millions agree, 
She brought in her hand as a pledge of her love, 

And the plant she named Liberty Tree. 
The celestial exotic struck deep in the ground. 

Like a native it flourished and bore; 
The fame of its fruit drew the nation's around. 

To seek out this peaceable shore. 

1 Published in the Pennsylvania Magazine, 1775. 



LIBERTY TREE 273 



Unmindful of names or distinctions thej' came, 

For freemen like brothers agree; 
With one spirit endued, they one friendship pursued. 

And their temple was Liberty Tree-. 

Beneath this fair tree, like the patriarchs of old. 

Their bread in contentment they ate 
Unvexed with the troubles of silver and gold, 

The cares of the grand and the great. 
With timber and tar they Old England supplied, 

And supported her power on the sea; 
Her battles they fought, without getting a groat. 

For the honor of Liheriy Tree. 

But hear, O ye swains, 'tis a tale most profane, 

How all the tyrannical powers. 
Kings, Commons and Lords, are uniting amain. 

To cut down this guardian of ours; 
From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms, 

Through the land let the sound of it flee, 
Let the far and the near, all unite with a cheer, 

In defense of our Liberty Tree. 

Thomas Paine 




THE RISING IN 1776.i 



Out of the North the wild news came. 
Far flashing on its wings of flame, 
Swift as the boreal light which flies 
At midnight through the startled skies. 
And there was tumult in the air, 

The fife's shrill note, the drum's loud beat, 
And through the wide land everywhere 

The answering tread of hurrying feet; 
While the first oath of Freedom's gun, 
Came on the blast from Lexington; 
And Concord, roused, no longer tame, 
Forgot her old baptismal name. 
Made bare her patriot arm of power. 
And swelled the discord of the hour. 

1 Used with the courteous permission of the publishers, The J. B. Lippin- 
cott Co., Philadelphia. 

274 



THE RISING IN 177() 275 

Within its shade of ehn and oak 

The church of Berkeley Manor stood; 

There Sunday found the rural folk, 

And some esteemed of gentle blood. 

In vain their feet with loitering tread 

Passed 'mid the graves where rank is naught; 
All could not read the lesson taught 

In that republic of the dead. 

How sweet the hour of Sabbath talk, 

The vale with peace and sunshine full 

Where all the happy people walk. 

Decked in their homespun flax and wool! 

Where youth's gay hats with blossoms bloom; 
And every maid with simple art, 
Wears on her breast, like her own heart, 

A bud whose depths are all perfume; 

While every garment's gentle stir 

Is breathing rose and lavender. 

The pastor came; his snowy locks 

Hallowed his brow of thought and care; 

And calmly, as shepherds lead their flocks, 
He led into the house of prayer. 

The pastor rose; the prayer was strong; 

The psalm was warrior David's song; 

The text, a few short words of might — 

'The Lord of hosts shall arm the right!" 

He spoke of wrongs too long endured. 
Of sacred rights to be secured; 
Then from his patriot tongue of flame 
The startling words for Freetlom came. 



76 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

The stirring sentences he spake 
Compelled the heart to glow or quake. 
And, rising on his theme's broad wing, 

And grasping in his nervous hand 

The imaginary battle brand. 
In face of death he dared to fling 
Defiance to a tyrant king. 

Even as he spoke, his frame, renewed 
In eloquence of attitude. 
Rose, as it seemed, a shoulder higher; 
Then swept his kindling glance of fire 
From startled pew to breathless choir; 
When suddenly his mantle wide 
His hands impatient flung aside. 
And, lo! he met their wondering eyes 
Complete in all a warrior's guise. 

A moment there was awful pause — 

When Berkeley cried, "Cease, traitor! cease! 

God's temple is the house of peace!" 
The other shouted, "Nay, not so, 
When God is with our righteous cause; 

His holiest places then are ours, 

His temples are our forts and towers. 
That frown upon the tyrant foe; 
In this,, the dawn of Freedom's day, 
There is a time to fight and pray!" 

And now before the open door — 

The warrior priest had ordered so — 
The enlisting trumpet's sudden roar 



THE RISING IN 1776 277 

Rang through the chapel, o'er and o'er. 

Its long reverberating blow. 
So loud and clear, it seemed the ear 
Of dusty death must wake and hear. 
And there the startling drum and fife 
Fired the living with fiercer life; 
While overhead, with wild increase, 
Forgetting its ancient toll of peace. 

The great bell swung as ne'er before; 
It seemed as it would never cease; 
And every word its ardor flung 
From off its jubilant iron tongue 

Was, "War! War! War!" 

"Who dares?" — this was the patriot's cry, 
As striding from the desk he came — 
"Come out with me, in Freedom's name, 
For her to live, for her to die?" 
A hundred hands flung up reply, 
A hundred voices answered, "I!" 

Thomas Buchanan Read 

AMERICA FIRST — 18. 



278 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 



AMERICA' 



Foreseen in the vision of sages, 

Foretold when martyrs bled. 
She was born of the longing of ages. 

By the truth of the noble dead 

And the faith of the living fed! 
No blood in her lightest veins 
Frets at remembered chains, 

Nor shame of bondage has bowed her head. 
In her form and features still 
The unblenching Puritan will, 
Cavalier honor, Huguenot grace, 
The Quaker truth and sweetness, 
And the strength of the danger-girdled race 
Of Holland, blend in a proud completeness. 

From the homes of all, where her being began, 
She took what she gave to Man; 
Justice, that knew no station, 
Belief, as soul decreed. 
Free air for aspiration. 
Free force for independent deed! 
She takes, but to give again. 
As the sea returns the rivers in rain; 
And gathers the chosen of her seed 
From the hunted of every crown and creed. 

Her Germany dwells by a gentler Rhine; 
Her Ireland sees the old sunburst shine; 
Her France pursues some dream divine; 

» From the National Ode, July 4, 1876. 



THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 279 

Her Norway keeps his mountain pine; 
Her Italy waits by the western brine; 

And, broad-based under all, 
Is planted England's oaken-hearted mood, 
As rich in fortitude 
As e'er went worldward from the island-wall! 

Fused in her candid light. 
To one strong race all races here unite; 
Tongues melt in hers, hereditary foemen 
Forget their sword and slogan, kith and clan. 

'Twas glory, once to be a Roman : 
She makes it glory, now, to be a man ! 

Bayard Taylor 

THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 

By the flow of the inland river. 

Whence the fleets of iron have fled. 
Where the blades of the grave grass quiver. 
Asleep are the ranks of the dead: 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Under the one, the Blue, 

Under the other, the Gray, 
These in the robings of glory. 

Those in the gloom of defeat, 
All with the battle blood gory. 
In the dusk of eternity meet: 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Under the laurel, the Blue, 

Under the willow, the Gray. 



280 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

From the silence of sorrowful hours 

The desolate mourners go. 
Lovingly laden with flowers 

Alike for the friend and the foe: 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Under the roses, the Blue, 

Under the lilies, the Gray. 

So with an equal splendor 

The morning sun-rays fall. 
With a touch impartially tender. 

On the blossoms blooming for all: 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Broidered with gold, the Blue, 

Mellowed with gold, the Gray. 

So, when the summer calleth. 

On forest and field of grain. 
With an equal murmur falleth 
The cooling drip of the rain: 

Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Wet with the rain, the Blue, 

Wet with the rain, the Gray. 

Sadly, but not with upbraiding. 
The generous deed was done. 

In the storm of the years that are fading. 
No braver battle was won : 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 281 

Under the sod and the dew, 

Waiting the judgment day; 

Under the blossoms, the Blue, 

Under the garlands, the Gray. 

No more shall the war cry sever, 
Or the winding rivers be red; 
They banish our anger forever 

When they laurel the graves of our dead ! 
Under the sod and the dew. 

Waiting the judgment day; 
Love and tears for the Blue, 

Tears and love for the Gray. 

Francis Miles Finch 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN^ 

Life may be given in many ways, 

And loyalty to Truth be sealed 
As bravely in the closet as the field. 

So bountiful is Fate; 

But then to stand beside her. 

When craven churls deride her, 
To front a lie in arms and not to yield. 

This shows, methinks, God's plan 

And measure of a stalwart man. 

Limbed like the old heroic breeds. 

Who stand self-poised on manhood's solid earth. 

Not forced to frame excuses for his birth, 
Fed from within with all the strength he needs. 

1 From the Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration, July 21, 1865. 



282 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

Such was he, our martyr chief, 

Whom late the Nation he had led, 

With ashes on her head, 
Wept with the passion of an angry grief: 

Forgive me, if from present things I turn 

To speak what in my heart will beat and burn, 

And hang my wreath on his world-honored urn. 

Nature, they say, doth dote. 

And cannot make a man 

Save on some worn-out plan, 

Repeating us by rote: 
For him her Old- World moulds aside she threw. 
And, choosing sweet clay from the breast 

Of the unexhausted West, 
With stuff untainted shaped a hero new. 
Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true. 

How beautiful to see 
Once more a shepherd of mankind indeed, 
Who loved his charge, but never loved to lead; 
On whose meek flock the people joyed to be, 

Not lured by any cheat of birth. 
But by his clear-grained human worth. 
And brave old wisdom of sincerity ! 

They knew that outward grace is dust; 
They could not choose but trust 
In that sure-footed mind's unfaltering skill. 

And supple-tempered will 
That bent like perfect steel to spring again and thrust. 
His was no lonely mountain peak of mind. 
Thrusting to thin air o'er our cloudy bars, 
A sea mark now, now lost in vapor's blind; 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 283 

Broad prairie rather, genial, level-lined, 

Fruitful and friendly for all human kind, 

Yet also nigh to Heaven and loved of loftiest stars. 

Nothing of Europe here. 
Or, then, of Europe fronting mornward still. 
Ere any names of serf and peer 
Could Nature's equal scheme deface 
And thwart her genial will; 
Here was a type of the true elder race, 
And one of Plutarch's men talked with us face to face. 

I praise him not; it were too late; 
And some innative weakness there must be 
In him who condescends to victory 
Such as the Present gives, and cannot wait, 
Safe in himself as in a fate. 
So always firmly he: 
He knew to bide his time. 
And can fame abide, 
Still patient in his simple faith sublime. 
Till the wise years decide. 
Great captains, with their guns and drums. 
Disturb our judgment for the hour. 
But at last silence comes! 
These all are gone, and standing like a tower. 
Our children shall behold his fame. 
The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man. 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame. 
New birth of our new soil, the first American. 

James Russell Lowell 



284 POETRY OF PATIilOTISM 

THE FLAG GOES BY 

Hats off! 

Along the street there comes 

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums, 

A flash of color beneath the sky: 

Hats off! 

The flag is passing by ! 

Blue and crimson and white it shines, 

Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines, 

Hats off! 

The colors before us fly; 

But more than the flag is passing by. 

Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great. 
Fought to make and save the State: 
Weary marches and sinking ships; 
Cheers of victory on dying lips; 

Days of plenty and years of peace; 
March of a strong land's swift increase; 
Equal justice, right, and law. 
Stately honor and reverend awe; 

Sign of a nation, great and strong 

To ward her people from foreign wrong: 

Pride and glory and honor — all 

Live in the colors to stand or fall. 

Hats off! 

Along the street there comes 



THE Sllir OF STATE 285 

A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums; 
And loyal hearts are beating high: 
Hats off! 
The flag is passing by ! 

Henry Holcomb Bennett 

THE SHIP OF STATE. 

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! 
Sail on, O UNION, strong and great! 
Humanity with all its fears. 
With all the hopes of future years, 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate! 
We know what Master laid thy keel, 
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel. 
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope. 
What anvils rang, what hammers beat. 
In what a forge and what a heat 
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! 
Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 
'Tis of the wave and not the rock; 
'Tis but the flapping of the sail, 
And not a rent made by the gale! 
In spite of rock and tempest's roar 
In spite of false lights on the shore, 
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! 
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
Are all with thee — are all with thee! 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 



286 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

THE NAME OF OLD GLORY^ 

Old Glory! say who, 

By the ships and the crew, 

And the long, blended ranks of the grey and the blue — 

Who gave you, Old Glory, the name that you bear 

With such pride everywhere 

As you cast yourself free to the rai)turous air 

And leap out full length as we're wanting you to? 

AVho gave you that name, with the ring of the same, 

And the honor and fame so becoming to you? — 

Your stripes streaked in ripples of white and of red, 

With your stars at their glittering best overhead — 

By day or by night. 

Their delightfulest light 

Laughing down from their little square heaven of blue! 

Who gave you the name of Old Glory? — say who — 

Who gave you the name of Old Glory? 

The old banner lifted, and faltering then, 
In vague lisps and whispers fell silent again. 

Old Glory, — speak out! — we are asking about 
How you happened to "favor" a name, so to say, 
That sounds so familiar and careless and gay 
As we cheer it and shout in our wild, breezy way — 
We — the crowd, every man of us, calling you that — 
We — Tom, Dick and Harry — each swinging his hat — 

1 From the Biographical Edition of the Complete Works of James 
Whitcomb Riley. Copyright 1913. Used by special permission of the 
publishers. The Bobbs-Merrill Company. 



THE NAME OF OLD GLORY 287 

And hurrahing "Old Glory," like you were our kind. 
When — Lord — we all know we're as common as sin! 

And yet it just seems like you humor us all 
And waft us your thanks as we hail you and fall 
Into line, with you over us, waving us on 
Where our glorified, sanctified betters have gone — 
And this is the reason we're wanting to know — 
(And we're wanting it so! 

Where our own fathers went, we are willing to go) 
Who gave you the name of Old Glory — Oho! 
Who gave you the name of Old Glory? 

The old flag unfurled in a billowy thrill 

For an instant, then wistfully sighed and was still. 

Old Glory — the story we're wanting to hear 

Is what the plain facts of your christening were — 

For your name — ^just to hear it, 

Repeat it, and cheer it, 's a tang to the spirit 

As salt as a tear; — 

And seeing yoU fly, and the boys marching by. 

There's a shout in the throat and a blur in the eye 

And an aching to live for you always — or die. 

If, dying, we still keep you waving on high. 

And so, by our love 

For you, floating above, 

And the scars of all wars and the sorrows thereof, 

Who gave you the name of Old Glory, and why 

Are we thrilled at the name of Old Glory? 



288 POETRY OF PATRIOTISM 

Then the old banner leaped, like a sail in the blast. 
And fluttered an audible answer at last. 

And it spake, with a shake of the voige, and it said:- 
By the driven snow-white and the living blood-red 
Of my bars, and their heaven of stars overhead — 
By the symbol conjoined of them all, skyward cast, 
As I float from the steeple, or flap at the mast. 
Or droop o'er the sod where the long grasses nod, — 
My name is as old as the glory of God, 
So I came by the name of Old Glory. 

James Whitcomb Riley 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



"-m 




011412 796 6 % 




